Hyperion Records

This piece – possibly the earliest concerted sonata with strings – is by Vincenzo Albrici. It is undated, but another work by Albrici in the same collection is dated 1654 and he was director of a group of Italian musicians at the Swedish court (the provenance of the Uppsala collection) from 1652 to 1654, so it probably dates from around then. Albrici led a hectic life: he was a Roman (a pupil of Carissimi) whose travels took him to (among other places) Stockholm, Dresden, Rome, Stralsund, Neuburg, London, Paris, Leipzig and Prague. His vigorous sonata appears to be, in part at least, a battle piece.

from notes by Peter Holman © 1988