Scarlatti: Sonates, Naples, 1685

These sonatas by Domenico Scarlatti seem to contain all the vivid colours of Naples: in the hands of Olivier Cavé, they spring to life as playful tableaux, dreams where the notes resemble reminiscences, each of them conjuring up a noisy, turbulent city that was regarded as the capital of European music in the first half of the eighteenth century.

After the success of the Red, Yellow, Blue, Pink and White collections (a total of sixty reissues) which gave a new lease of life to the pearls of the Baroque catalogues from our house labels, here are fourteen new titles which offer a chance to discover other treasures, whether Baroque or dating from an earlier or later era. Like the most recent series, this sixth instalment opens out onto the Classical repertory (Mozart by Ensemble 415 and Chiara Banchini) and the Renaissance (Févin by Doulce Mémoire and Denis Raisin Dadre); recordings that are an integral part of Alpha's identity and history. Fourteen reissues performed by the leading musicians in the field, most of which received one or more awards on their original release. Proper booklets accompany the discs, with notes in three languages (French, English, German). Photographers from all over the world have been selected to illustrate the covers, this time with the guiding thread of the colour green, a symbol of nature, fertility...and hope!