Recorded at Fundació Auditori Palau de Congressos, Girona, Spain, May 23-26, 2009

Handel came to Italy as a promising, ambitious young composer bursting with talent, and left it as a mature composer, permanently impregnated with the light and the vocal art of Italy. Some of the great works were written during these significant years in his development (La Resurrezione, Dixit Dominus, Il trionfo del tempo e del disinganno, Aci, Polifemo e Galatea, Rodrigo…) His cantatas, however, are the great unknowns in his output, within which it is precisely these works that emerge as an important test bed for his music.

Winter & Winter has entrusted this task to a young ensemble, Forma Antiqva, which marks the Munich label's first collaboration with Spanish musicians. The work of the three Zapico brothers with Forma Antiqva inevitably recalls the Kuijkens from Belgium, and in the youngest generation, the Ashby sisters who form part of the excellent group Stile Antico. This first Spanish 'commitment' by Winter & Winter is completed by the participation of the young singer Xavier Sabata: he possesses everything that is needed for these cantatas: clear diction, imagination, passion, engagement and the power of conviction.Thanks to him, the epoch of Spanish 'sopranisti', who enjoyed well-deserved fame throughout Euope, and inspired many to undertake their own personal 'Viaggio in Italia', has made its way back into our consciousness.