Gerard Lesne, Sandrine Piau, Il Seminario musicale - Alessandro Stradella: Motets (1995) CD-Rip

I cannot help feeling that Alessandro Stradella is possibly still one of the major unexplored talents of baroque music. I say this, not because I personally know of piles of forgotten masterpieces by him, but simply because when there is so much of his music that has not been recorded or made available in modern editions, and when what one does get to hear suggests so much talent (the powerful oratorio San Giovanni Battista, for instance), it makes you wonder just what else there might be waiting to be discovered.
The sadly small portion of the current catalogue devoted to Stradella receives a helpful boost with this recording, which offers five motets for one or two voices with small, single-string ensemble. From these we can see that one thing Stradella certainly was not was formulaic, for each work is constructed very much on its own terms, from the sustained nobility of Crocifissione e morte di N. S. Giesu Christo (ending, intriguingly, on the dominant) to the alternating lively recitatives and sinuous two-part writing of Benedictus dominus Deus, and from the virtuoso vocal delights of O vos omnes qui transitis to the dignified syllabic setting of the Lamentatione per il Mercoledi Santo (so like Charpentier or Couperin in its austere expressiveness).
Il Seminario Musicale are persuasive interpreters as usual. Led by Gerard Lesne’s smoothly controlled, rich countertenor voice, they relish Stradella’s more anguished harmonies and summon up plenty of energy when the going gets more lively. Sandrine Piau’s dark soprano is a good complement to Lesne and, as in their earlier recordings, the instrumental ensemble (bolstered by the unusual inclusion of a double-bass) produces a satisfyingly weighty sound. Il Seminario Musicale are making a pleasing habit of dipping into unfamiliar regions of the baroque solo motet and cantata repertory; this is my favourite disc yet.'