Sances: Dialoghi amorosi

The secular music of 17th-century Italian composer Giovanni Sances is a real find. For him, love was the perfect vehicle for vocal music of endless invention, whether it be a love that brings joy or one that breeds despair. From the doleful frustration of “Dove n’andrò che non mi segua Amor?”—marvel at Hanna Al-Bender’s lithe soprano—to the dramatic multimovement “L’infortunio d’Angelica,” Sances proves to be an indisputable master of theater. It helps, naturally, that this music is performed with abundant grace and skill.