This thoughtfully sequenced anthology presents different aspects of Christmas as celebrated during the High Baroque in Rome. Alessandro Stradella's Sonata in D major for Trumpet and Strings, is the earliest work, forming a link between the pastoral folk tradition, and the slightly later composers who where members of such institutions as the Accademia dell' Arcadia. Scarlatti and Corelli ...
Christmas Music follows soprano Emma Kirkby's 1996 disc centred around Schütz's Christmas Story in a sequence of cantatas and baroque instrumental pieces which can happily be enjoyed at any time of the year. The album, revolving around two cantatas by Alessandro Scarlatti together with extracts from two Bach cantatas, has the underlying theme of Christ's nativity, though the ...