More Maiorum cherrypicked instrumental and some vocal pieces for an anthology devoted to the vital and multicoloured Italophile musical life in the Netherlands. From the 1630s onwards Italian composers gradually gained popularity in the Low Countrie…
“Concerto Italiano's lean ensemble of a string quartet, harpsichord and archlute plays the descending chromatic figures in a lamentful Fantasie from Rossi's Orfeo with finesse and sensitivity...Alessandrini's programme has a seamless art…
Tarquinio Merula (1595-1665) was trained in Cremona, and spent some time as far afield as Poland. His style combines relatively dense harmony with an expansive vocal treatment, especially original in its synthesis of vocal & instrumental forms. …