Barbara Strozzi (1619-1677) must have been an extraordinary woman. At a time when women were largely excluded from the public music scene, her musical talent was particularly encouraged. She was able to present both her wonderful voice and her extraordinarily artistic compositions in so-called "academies" of the highest Venetian society; she was even able to publish a total of eight operas with her music. The ensemble Il Segreto delle Muse presents here twelve selected arias and duets by Strozzi.

No musician has done more for this music than the Argentine director of Ensemble Elyma, Gabriel Garrido. Garrido has an impressive discography on the French label K617. K617 recordings can sometimes be frustrating because they rarely provide English translations to the obscure texts of much of this music. No matter, you can’t go wrong with any of the recordings Garrido has made with his excellent Ensemble Elyma.

This "fiesta" is in honor of the Virgin, and contains music by Roque Jacinto de Chavarria, a Brazilian Baroque composer (1688-1719), Juan de Araujo (Chavarria’s teacher) and others. Don’t let their unfamiliarity and the unfamiliarity of the other composers/arrangers on this CD put you off–all the music is flavorful, solid, Baroque fare, and much of it is rhythmically propulsive with an exciting Latin beat. Musicologist Bernardo Illari has put it all together to create a thrilling, vastly entertaining, and unique experience. It winds ups as a veritable pageant, beginning with a drummed entry into the cathedral, followed by the polyphonic sections alternating with purely instrumental ones and some nice monophony as well. Needless to say, Garrido leads his large instrumental and vocal forces with verve and understanding.

La Dafne (Daphne) is an early Italian opera, written in 1608 by the Italian composer Marco da Gagliano from a libretto by Ottavio Rinuccini. It is described as a favola in musica (fable set to music) composed in one act and a prologue. The opera is based on the myth of Daphne and Apollo as related by Ovid in the first book of the Metamorphoses. An earlier version of the libretto had been set to music in 1597–98 by Jacopo Peri, whose Dafne is generally considered to be the first opera.

This disc constitutes the memoir of the concerti of Vespro della Beata Vergine (Vespers of the Blessed Virgin) of Claudio Monteverdi which took place in Palermo in the church of Santa Maria dello Spasimo from the 15th - 17th July 1999 for the occasion of the musical summer (Estate Musicale) of the Teatro Massimo (Fondazione Teatro Massimo). The concerti were carried out by the Teatro Massimo and the regional arts delegation for the town of Palermo in collaboration with the Association for Ancient Music Antonio Il Verso and the Institute of Music History of the University of Palermo. 'Could we have dreamt such glorious music-making was possible? This version has genuine impact, and goes straight to the top of the list of recommended recordings. Monteverdi, or the Vespers of the Blessed Garrido.' Repertoire '…this luminous vision constitutes one of the finest chapters in the history of modern Monteverdi interpretation.' –Le monde de la musique.

Bonaventura Aliotti‚ unrepresented in the CD catalogues until now‚ was a Sicilian composer of the middle Baroque‚ born in Palermo around 1640‚ dying some 50 years later. A Minorite friar‚ he worked as organist in Padua and various other Italian cities‚ ending up as maestro di cappella in Palermo. His oratorios‚ of which only four survive‚ seem to have been greatly admired in his time. Il Sansone‚ first performed in Naples in 1686‚ tells the central part of the familiar story of Samson – his seduction and betrayal by Delilah‚ at the bidding of the Philistine Captain and with the help of the allegorical character Inganno (‘Treachery’) and Morpheus‚ god of sleep. It was revised two years later for performance in Modena‚ and the choral music was added; the Modena score‚ as the only surviving source for the work‚ is used here.

An extraordinary, constantly inventive composer, free of all constraints, like a new Gesualdo. After Monteverdi, here is the last revolutionary of the in- cendiary seconda prattica, in a programme exalting by turns profane love and sacred desire, performed by an outstanding cast of singers.

S'il est un exemple en France d'éditeur indépendant dynamique, c'est bien celui du label lorrain K.617. Depuis le début des années 90, celui-ci, sous la houlette d'Alain Pacquier, explore, défriche des terres musicales jusque-là inconnues de nos contemporains. Il faut dire que le répertoire exhumé est celui d'Amérique latine ; autrement dit, K.617 a fait ici œuvre de pionnier en révélant aux discophiles des merveilles sonores insoupçonnées. Comme en témoignent la réédition de La Purpura de la Rosa et des musiques extraites de la Mission San Francisco Xavier : des pièces issues du riche patrimoine baroque d'Amérique latine, où tout virevolte, où les rythmes s'entrechoquent, où les voix émeuvent par leur prégnance et la richesse de la palette expressive. Des (re)découvertes qui ne peuvent laisser insensible.

Francisco Lopez Capillas was born in 1608 in Mexico City, and studied plainchant and polyphonic composition at the Royal and Pontifical University before assuming the post of chorister and second organist at Puebla Cathedral in 1641. Although most of his significant works were composed toward the end of his life–and thus well into what is generally regarded as the baroque period–the Messe de la Bataille is, like many of his other works, ambiguous in its relationship to the musical innovations that were taking place in the old world at the time.

Just listening to soprano María Cristina Kiehr in her early collaborations with Gabriel Garrido is a sheer pleasure! Garrido is the big “discoverer” of music created in Latin America after the arrival of the “conquistadores” – this music bears strong traditional flavours, while at the same time reflecting the strong influences from Spain (especially) and Portugal. A big line-up of fine singers and instrumentalists supports the reconstruction of an essential repertory.

Recorded in Palerme under the conductor Gabriel Garrido, this programme features the largest baroque group ever gathered. 120 baroque musicians, 4 organs and a host of vocal soloists were necessary to rebuild the immense vesper office devoted in 1644 to the Virgin in Palermo. Twelve choirs and orchestras forming a star giveing a sonorous splendour never experienced before. Once again, Gabriel Garrido creates the surprise and leaves the listener in a state of shock. Spectacular!

At the dawn of opera in Venice, Monteverdi's pupil Cavalli and the poet G.F Busenello, created Gli amori d'Apollo e di Dafne. This fruitful collaboration inaugurated a cycle which, together with L’Incoronazione di Poppea, was to become emblematic of the new Venetian opera.The present recording spares no effort to recreate the magnificence that was to make Italian music the 'mistress of the world.

At the end of the 1990s, the recordings of Gabriel Garrido represented an important landmark in the interpretation of Monteverdian opera. What attracted one’s attention straightaway in his versions were the brilliance and the hedonism of the actual recording itself. Following the precepts noted by the theorist Agostino Agazzari (a contemporary of Monteverdi) concerning continuo realization, Garrido involved not only the typical instruments which can play contrapuntally (keyboard, organ, archlute, harp, etc) but those with melodic capabilities as well. The resulting sound was opulent but never ornamental; and from it the dramatic rhythm flowed in a series of subtle ways. Reinforcing the instrumental complement was never done to the detriment of vocal concerns, which continued to have a leading role. It was precisely with the voices where Garrido set himself apart from his predecessors. By deciding to surround himself with Latin voices (Italian, French, Spanish, Argentinian…) he endowed his Monteverdi with warm, rounded and sensual vocal colours.