⁠COLONNA, PERTI, POLLAROLA, TORELLI: Cantatas & Concertos

Nuria Rial (soprano)

Basel Chamber Orchestra,

Julia Schröder

Giovanni Paolo COLONNA (1637 – 1695): Salomone amante (Ed. F. Lora): Pensieri vaganti0 7:43

Giuseppe TORELLI (1658 – 1709): Concerto grosso in D Major, op. 8, No. 12 (Ed. G. Sechi): I. Allegro 02:23  II. Adagio e con affetto 01:29  III. Allegro 01:23  IV. Adagio 03:10

Giacomo Antonio PERTI (1661 – 1756): Cantata per San Tomaso d’Aquino (Ed. G. Sechi): I. Vieni pur con i tuoi vezzi (Aria) 03:13  II. Ecco dall’alto polo (Recitativo) 00:30 III. Ogni spirto in ciel beato (Aria) 03:06

Giuseppe TORELLI: Concerto grosso in C Major, op. 8, No. 1 (Ed. G. Sechi):  I. Vivace 02:29  II. Largo 01:53  III. Allegro ma non presto – Adagio 01:34 IV. Allegro 02:15

Giuseppe TORELLI: Concerto grosso in D Minor, op. 8, No. 7 (Ed. G. Sechi): I. Allegro 02:00  II. Adagio e con affetto 01:07 III. Allegro – Adagio 01:19 IV. Allegro 02:43

Carlo Francesco POLLAROLA (1653 – 1723): Aurae sacrae amati ardores (Ed. G. Sechi):  I. Aurae sacrae amati ardores (Aria) 04:52  II. O clemens domine Deus (Recitativo) 00:39  III. Dulcis amor trine Deus (Aria) 04:47 IV. Alleluia (Aria) 01:55

Giuseppe TORELLI: Concerto grosso in E Major, op. 8, No. 3 (Ed. G. Sechi):  I. Vivace 01:57  II. Largo 01:12  III. Allegro – Adagio 00:58  IV. Allegro ⁠

Deutsche Harmonia Mundi, 2023

With the 2017 album “Bologna 1666”, the Basel Chamber Orchestra under the direction of Julia Schröder took the listener on a musical journey to what was arguably Italy’s most important musical centre in the 17th century and discovered outstanding works. Founded in 1666, the Accademia Filarmonica di Bologna, one of the oldest music academies in Italy, influenced musical life at the time far beyond Italy’s borders. It is all the more astonishing that, with the exception of a few composers such as Giuseppe Torelli or Giacomo Antonio Perti, most of them have fallen into oblivion. In this second recording, which concentrates on the Bolognese school, the orchestra focuses more on the vocal music of this period. They are supported by the fantastic Catalan soprano Nuria Rial. The vocal pieces are all connected in terms of content, as the texts repeatedly use “airy” images and metaphors: Anxious thoughts of a tormented lover who cannot find peace, as if moved by the wind (the aria “Pensieri vaganti” by Colonna), or of angels descending from heaven to save people (in the cantata “Vieni pur con i tuoi vezzi” by Perti), or of the aura one breathes in sacred places (the motet “Aurae sacrae amati ardores” by Pollarolo). The pieces for solo soprano are juxtaposed with excerpts from the Concerti grossi op. 8 by Giuseppe Torelli, who was born in Venice but lived in Bologna from 1684 and made a career as a composer there. Nuria Rial, soprano Basel Chamber Orchestra Julia Schröder, violin, conductor