ALESSANDRO STRADELLA (1639-1682): 12 Sinfonias for Strings.

Description: Though Stradella called them Sinfonias, these are really trio sonatas, two for violin and cello and the rest for two violins. But they stand out from the crowd for their highly rhetorical and often theatrical qualities (he used two of them as overtures to stage works) and we continue to see why Handel thought so highly of Stradella (to the point of borrowing several passages from his compositions). Ensemble Arte Musica.