For approaching a remarkable quarter of a century, Antonio Florio and his colleagues at the Centro di Musica Antica Pietà de’ Turchini in Naples have been successfully breathing new life into the forgotten repertoire of the Neapolitan Baroque.

Now Florio has made an agreement with Glossa for the San Lorenzo de El Escorial-based label to issue the recordings of the ensemble of singers and instrumentalists, now renamed as simply I Turchini.

The first offering, recently recorded, focuses on cantatas by Cristofaro Caresana (c.1640-1709), a composer born in Venice who went on to become, according to Florio, one of the two greatest musical figures from Naples from the second half of the 17th century, alongside Francesco Provenzale.

Both the music and the performance here are imbued with the theatrical and exuberant reflection of the Neapolitan spirit of the Baroque; stylish and accomplished singers such as Maria Grazia Schiavo, Giuseppe De Vittorio and Rosario Totaro form part of the team for a group of multi-voiced Christmas-time works and a solo offering – the cantata Partenope from 1703 – featuring Schiavo as its singer.

Instrumental sonatas from Pietro Andrea Ziani, thought to be Caresana’s teacher in Venice, demonstrate the virtuosity of I Turchini’s string players.

Recorded in Naples in December 2009.