Gli Scarlattisti / Jochen Arnold

On Bach's 340th birthday J.S. Bach, Scarlatti

Bach and Scarlatti: both were born in 1685, one in Eisenach, the other in Naples. Even 300 years after they were written, the motets of the first can only amaze us, for who could ever compose so artfully polyphonic and at the same time so richly pictorial? The Stabat Mater of the second for ten voices (throughout) and continuo takes us into sometimes lyrical, sometimes extroverted moments, always characterized by the vitality and complexity of the Italian emotional world and underpinned by effective harmonies. This hour of baroque musical drama is presented to us by an excellent ensemble of slenderly scored vocal music.