The forgotten art of a 17th-century Roman master, in the hands of a dynamic period ensemble with a string of acclaimed rarity albums to their credit.

The Baroque trio-sonata repertoire still yields up plenty of undiscovered treasure lying in libraries across Italy. The Ensemble Giardino di Delizie has been diving into it and coming up with polished gems on Brilliant Classics by Stradella (96079), Colista (96033) and Lonati (95590). Like Colista, Carlo Mannelli (1640-1697) was Roman by birth and training. He sang and played the violin for ensembles at both church and court, and was permitted to dedicate his Op.2 collection to Cardinal Benedetto Pamphilj.

Perhaps it was the patronage of this influential family that opened doors to his training with Michelangelo Rossi, and to distinguished musical societies in Rome. Another noble Roman family was the recipient of Mannelli’s Op.3 collection of Trio Sonatas, with its dedication to Prince Domenico Rospigliosi. Much of the composer’s output is now lost, and we can only surmise at the riches deprived to us by time, given the fresh melodic invention of what survives here.

Compared to Stradella and co, Mannelli cuts an eccentric, highly individual figure, musically speaking, and he has no interest in the orderliness of Corelli. The arrangement of slow and fast movements is unpredictable: the four-movement no.10 begins with three separate Adagios! The six-movement no.9 cuts a sequence of four slow movements in half with a fugue, and so on. Three of the twelve sonatas feature a ravishing aria for the violin, who takes on a soloist’s role.

When Mannelli writes quick music, he pushes his musicians to the limits, as in the finale of the First Sonata. Counterpoint is subordinate to the kind of highly elaborate violin writing at which Ewa Anna Augustynowicz has already shown herself to excel in previous albums, making this new recording an essential acquisition for Baroque-music aficionados.

‘Ewa Anna Augustynowicz and her plaintive Baroque violin are the stars here. Nevertheless, she is in like-minded and similarly capable company.’ – Fanfare (Stradella, 96079)

‘Wonderfully engaging, especially when played with such imaginative musicality as it is here.’ – Early Music Review (Stradella, 96079)