Rachel Podger is an honorary member of both the Royal Academy of Music, where she holds the Micaela Comberti Chair for Baroque Violin, and the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama.
Instruments
Rachel Podger performs on a Pesarinius violin from Genoa, made in 1739, while Marcin Świątkiewicz plays a harpsichord after early 17th-century Italian models and an organ by Henk Klop.
Performer Biography
Rachel Podger, a leading interpreter of Baroque and Classical music, was the leader of The English Concert from 1997 to 2002 and began a guest directorship with The Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment in 2004.
Composition History
Isabella Leonarda, a prolific composer who remained in a convent for life, published a collection in 1693 that is thought to contain the earliest sonatas published by a woman.
Compositional Technique
Andrea Gabrieli, whose inclusion among early Italian Baroque composers is unusual, developed polychoral and concertato styles at St Mark's in Venice, which define the shift from the late Renaissance to the early Baroque.
Historical Context
The album features early Italian Baroque masterpieces, a period when musical composition reached a point where invention converged with technical mastery, leading to the birth of the Baroque style.
Performer Biography
Marcin Świątkiewicz, one of the foremost Polish harpsichord players of his generation, is known for his inventive basso continuo realizations and specializes in performing on harpsichord, clavichord, historical piano, and organ.
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