Haendel n’a que 21 ans lorsqu’il quitte l’Allemagne pour l’Italie. C’est pour répondre à l’invitation du prince Jean Gaston de Medicis qu’il arrive à Rome en 1706 possédant déjà une culture musicale influencée par les courants italiens. Ces années en Italie seront des années de pur bonheur, il y fera la connaissance de Corelli et des Scarlatti, n’hésitant pas à se mesurer à Domenico dans une joute musicale dont il triomphera.

This is a fine recording of the complete set of concertos for strings with solo violin and harpsichord by Tomaso Albinoni, performed by I Solisti Veneti directed by Claudio Scimone. Albinoni was a contemporary of the better-known Antonio Vivaldi and wrote concertos in a similar style. String instruments much as we know them today were developed in Cremona in the 17th and 18th centuries by three families in particular - Amati, Guarneri and Stradivari - to replace the viols that had been used in the previous centuries. As a result there were several composers, in Italy especially but also elsewhere in Europe, who composed works for these exciting new-sounding instruments.

The German bass-baritone brings near-Wagnerian intensity to Schumann's two great cycles of 1840, yet he and Andsnes are at their most spellbinding in the introspective songs.