José Valentino Bajista

The last decade or so has seen the blossoming of a new generation of vocal talents from Spain, many of whom have been expressing their art through early music. A leading figure in this artistic array has been the soprano Nuria Rial, a singer blessed with an unaffected declamatory style, sweet and yet intimate in its emotional charm. In recent years the career of Rial has seen her tackle with success music by Bach, Handel, Mozart, Haydn, as well as Pergolesi and much Italian seicento repertoire. This newly-prepared Glossa album turns the clock back to collect together recordings made by the fresh voice of the Catalonian soprano in the years immediately following her studies at the Musik-Akademie in Basel.

José Miguel Moreno contrasts the uniqueness of the Angelica with the usual sound of the small theorbo.​ The differences in terms of resonance are indeed amazing, especially since the soloist does well with it to play out the musical lines on both instruments and to make broad gestures.