A selection of rare and in some cases previously unrecorded pieces of Italian Baroque music: "La Pazzia" of Durante is performed by Giuseppe Prencipe using the technique of that era; the dreamlike "Recitativo" of abate Bonporti, the overwhelming "Fandango" of Boccherini in its unusual original version; the "Concertino n02" of Pergolesi, the composer who inspired Igor Stravinskij.

Excerpts from the original CD booklet:
Our journey could not neglect certain "pearls" from the magical period which goes under the name of the "musical Baroque". This was an age of creative development and stylistic innovations which in Italy produced composers of genius who uplifted and ennobled the musical culture of the whole of Eurospe. Some of the composers we have chosen are some of the most important figures in the history of music, chief amongst them the great Francesco Durante, who together with Alessandro Scarlatti was the guiding spirit of the famous Neapolitan School. We have also chosen his pupil Giovanni Battista Pergolesi; Francesco Antonio Bonporti, the abbot from Trento; that other "man of the Church", the Venetian Antonio Vivaldi; and Luigi Boccherini from Lucca.

There was a period in the history of music when the expression of human emotions in their purest and most limpid form became a primary need and intention. Feeling irrupted with intense impetus and expressive power. It engendered a vibrant dynamism and a search for contrast, the pursuit of that which was "black and white". Musical instruments were developed and improved upon to achieve new forms of sound and in grand style there emerged one instrument in particular which took wonderful steps forward - the violin.
This period was that which stretched from the seventeenth to the eighteenth centuries. For music itself a new and unrepeatable experience had begun - that of the Baroque. Corelli, Durante, Bonporti, Vivaldi, Tartini, and before them Monteverdi and Frescobaldi, were the pioneers of a new way of "making music" and of a different style which would later culminate in the work of Bach and Handel.
The new forms of composition developed by these figures meant that instrumental music - which up to that time had been of secondary importance when compared to vocal works - took on a new role and influence. The term "baroque" is not completely or readily accepted by musical scholars - indeed it is very controversial. But there again, it is by no means easy to provide an overall stylistic definition of a period which covers a hundred and fifty years of various forms of musical expression and different interweaving influences which originated in Italy and then spread throughout Eurospe. Others have coined another definition which is not however really suitable - "the age of the basso continuo".
The introduction of the basso continuo was certainly one of the most evident features of the transformation of the musical language of this period. It was a kind of musical stenography, an inspired system which involved writing the accompaniment with a base line above which were placed written numbers. This stenographic system was essentially a matter of improvisation because these numbers were not always written down in complete form. Indeed, some of the base parts were left entirely unrecorded and their performance was left to the judgement of the player himself.
Whatever one’s point of view, the use of the term "musical Baroque" to refer to this fruitful period is distinctly evocative and is certainly more satisfactory to the intuitive senses. Much is known about the composers of this tradition and about the music which made it legendary. Baroque music has been much studied and discussed and has been frequently performed. But there remain unknown "pearls" of this lineage which have never been recorded. We would like to offer this music for the appreciation and consideration of those who love music.