Ensemble Salomone Rossi
Benedetto Marcello – Psalms and Sonatas

Benedetto Marcello was born in Venice in 1686 and died in Brescia in 1739. His vast musical production remains not fully investigated in musicology, but his best-known composition is L’Estro poetico armonico, a collection of 50 Psalms in which he transcribed eleven ancient songs – called Intonazioni – taken from the Jewish tradition, as well as two sacred songs from Greek classicism.

These melodies for solo voice, without any instrumental accompaniment, are repeated within each Psalm, performed by the voices or instruments.

Marcello recognized the importance of the Jewish and classical musical heritage, which is why, by carrying out an operation of union between testimonies of different times and styles, he wanted to emphasize the universal validity of the melodies.

The program of this album includes 2 of the 50 psalms contained in L’Estro poetico armonico (Psalm n.21 and n.42), the Sonata for violin and basso continuo in E minor Op.1 and the first movement of the Sonata n. 5 in F major and Sonata n.4 in G minor for solo harpsichord.

Solisti
Ensemble Salomone Rossi
Lydia Cevidalli – direttore, violino solista, viola
Marta Fumagalli – mezzosoprano
Laurence Meikle – basso
Andrea Vassalle – viola
Issei Watanabe – violoncello
Roberto Panetta – contrabbasso
Diego Cantalupi – tiorba
Giovanni Togni – clavicembalo