Thomas Dunford wanted to "rediscover the spirit of chamber music in the Baroque repertoire. Jupiter functions in a kind of fraternity, as if we've known each other all our lives...

Vivaldi's music is full of contrasts, and demands a natural response, almost like improvisation.

For this album, Lea Desandre has chosen the theme of the Amazons, a myth of women warriors that is very present in Baroque music. Lea Desandre has invited some magnificent partners: Cecilia Bartoli, Véronique Gens and William Christie. "Amazone" is a hymn to nature, a story of the heart and the poetic, universal and timeless message of a sentimental and emotional journey.

The Lettera amorosa by the same Monteverdi will see Lea Desandre singing it alongside Dunford on the lute, like a sighing Italian of the time confiding her lament to her favorite musician. Two arias by the other master of the period, Frescobaldi, in a much more popular style, Se l'aura spira, lively and danceable, then Cosi mi disprezzate, much darker and more bitter, of course.

The album was born of Dunford's desire to tell a love story through Handel's most beautiful spiritual music. During the pandemic, Thomas and Lea scoured Handel's entire English-language oeuvre to construct a narrative that Dunford dubbed "a West Side Baroque story". The album contains arias from Semele, Theodora, Saul, Susanna, Esther and more.