Album: Armonico Consort, Let The Bright Seraphim (Signum Classics)

The Armonico Consort follow up their dazzling second volume of Naked Byrd acappella pieces with this programme of baroque works for trumpet, soprano and chamber ensemble.

The tone is immediately set by Crispian Steele-Perkins' trilling trumpet on Bach's "Jauchzet Gott in allen Landen", which also features quite thrilling counterpoints between him and soprano Elin Manahan Thomas. Alessandro Scarlatti's pairing of voice and trumpet brings added nobility to the expression of unrequited love in "Su le sponde del Tebro", though its most affecting passage is "Infelici miei lumi", where Thomas's heartbreaking vocal is borne on a haunting meniscus of strings.

Download: Jauchzet Gott in allen Landen; Trumpet Concerto in D major; Infelici miei lumi