Before the rediscovery of Vivaldi, well into the 20th- century, Marcello was the most representative musician of 18th century Venice. The 'Venetian patrician', as he signed himself in his musical compositions, is remembered by history for a monumental work that had no precedents in the history of music: the Estro poetico-armonico (1724-26), a collection of the first 50 psalms of the Bible re-worked in the form of a poetic-musical paraphrase. The Latin texts of the psalms were translated into Italian blank verse by another Venetian nobleman, Girolamo Ascanio Giustiniani, a great friend of the composer. Regarding the music, instead of making use of the normal string orchestra, Marcello removed violins from the instrumental accompaniment and confined himself to laying down only the line of the figured bass. The composer intended in this way to safeguard the dignity and 'gravitas' of this musical genre. Four of these psalms (with the addition of an Organ Sonata) are performed here by the ensemble Gli Erranti conducted by M° Alessandro Casari. Gli Erranti is a well-known vocal group specialising in Baroque music and in particular, music of the city of Brescia.