Fysiologie Marieke Van Der Burgt

The large-scale Het Sweelinck Monument project, with Harry van der Kamp as its driving force, and with individual issues on Glossa over the last 6 years in book-CD format for the Netherlands and as multiple-CD sets for the international market, embraces the complete vocal and instrumental music output of Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck.

Naples was in the mid-18th century the third largest European city and one of the greatest centres of political, commercial and cultural influence. The conservatoires there were founded by religious orders and were originally intended as charitable institutions for the accommodation and education of orphans, but soon became real centres of musical education and performance; many leading composers were pupils and teachers there and so contributed to the founding of the Neapolitan School. Porpora and Hasse are the greatest representatives of the Neapolitan style and both settled in Venice before rising to international fame. Their writing was strongly influenced by opera and reflects the Italian taste of the time; it is also present in their religious compositions. Les Muffatti and the South-African countertenor Clint van der Linde present works of exceptional expressive power, with Hasse’s Hostes Averni and Porpora’s Nisi Dominus being recorded here for the first time.

On this recording of Boccherini’s Arie da Concerto, the Belgian ensemble Capriola di Gioia defies the stubborn stereotyping of Boccherini as the gallant master of unsurpassable but insignificant melodies. Close listening to this marvellous music reveals a genius with a profound understanding of human psychology, and a rich harmonic palette to paint the smallest affective nuances. In these arias, Boccherini is rehabilitated as a true heir of Händel, a worthy contemporary to Haydn, and an early precursor of the belcanto of Bellini.