Recorded in Nepi (province of Viterbo), where Alessandro Stradella was born, ‘La forza delle stelle’ (‘The power of the stars’) gives us an opportunity to sample some of the fruits of the fascinating collaboration between that exceptionally expressive Baroque composer and the Roman poet Sebastiano Baldini, under the patronage of the exiled Queen Christina of Sweden. The serenata that gives the album its title, based on a scenario by Christina, deals – as was frequently the case at that time – with the subject of love, and the power of the stars to aid or thwart it. The result is a pure delight!