Credits:

Scarlatti, Alessandro (1660-1725)

Description:

This is the "first string quartet ever"! Alessandro Scarlatti, one of the greatest composers of the late Italian Baroque, is a master of the Baroque, and his overwhelming skills flourished because of his thorough knowledge of traditional polyphonic writing in church music. Although he was mainly known for his vocal music, he also left some works for instrumental music, including keyboard pieces and concerto-style ensembles, the highlight of which is the "Sonata for four voices" for strings, which dominates the program. This collection was compiled in 1725, the composer's death year, and is characterized by the fact that although it is a sonata with church-style polyphonic writing, it is written "without harpsichord in the bass part", avoiding the custom of the time to add instruments that could produce chords in the bass part. This is an important collection of string quartets, and is regarded as the first collection of string quartets in the history of music. The aural experience of a world of neat baroque beauty, similar to that of Corelli and Albinoni of the same period, unfolding without a bass continuo, is a unique one, and the tracks are endlessly fascinating and make us reconsider the course of music history.The French-based ancient instrument group Les Recléations is a unique group that, although it is a string quartet, is centered on the Baroque. The works of Francesco Scarlatti, Alessandro's brother who was active mainly in England, and the keyboard works of Trabati and his son D. Scarlatti, which are performed in accordance with the Renaissance custom of playing organ music with a string ensemble, are a good fit when considering A. Scarlatti's unique collection of music. The performance is excellent, including the works by Trabati and his son D. Scarlatti. The recording engineer R. Arndt, who was active as a baroque violinist, has done an excellent job in engineering the recording. Naxos Japan