Cristina Prats Costa - Spiritillo Mediterraneo (2026)

Violinist Cristina Prats Costa makes her solo recording debut with Spiritillo Mediterraneo, a vibrant portrait of the sound world of 17th- and early 18th-century music shaped by the cultures of the Mediterranean.Inspired by Andrea Falconieri’s Il Spiritillo Brando, the album takes the spiritillo — a mischievous, animating sprite — as a metaphor for the Baroque imagination: a realm of invention, improvisation, and richly ornamented dialogue. The Mediterranean emerges here not as a boundary but as a crossroads, where Italian virtuosity, Spanish rhythmic fire, and French elegance converge. Music by Falconieri, Matteis, Sanz, Murcia, Nebra, Biber, Rebel, and Vivaldi reflects these exchanges, vividly coloured by the use of castanets, which add an unmistakable Iberian rhythmic vitality.

Tracklist
1. Il primo libro di canzone: Il Spiritillo Brando (1:02)
2. Il primo libro di canzone: La Suave Melodia (2:42)
3. Il primo libro di canzone: Corriente dicha la Cuella (1:16)
4. Il primo libro di canzone: Brando dicho el Melo (1:10)
5. Sonata No. 5 in E Minor C. 142 (11:24)
6. Ayres for the Violin: Aria malinconica. Adagio (3:08)
7. Ayres for the Violin: Ground in E Major (4:38)
8. Ayres for the Violin: Sarabanda amorosa. Adagio (2:49)
9. Fandango (Arr. for Violin, Basso Continuo & Castanets by Cristina Prats Costa) (3:13)
10. Ayres for the Violin: Adagio in A Minor (2:05)
11. Ayres for the Violin: Aria in D Minor (1:27)
12. Españoleta (Arr. for Violin, Basso Continuo & Castanets by Cristina Prats Costa) (6:33)
13. Ayres for the Violin: Giga. Al genio Turchesco (1:01)
14. Ayres for the Violin: Aria. Adagio in C Minor (1:51)
15. Ayres for the Violin: Allegro. Preludio prestissimo (0:58)
16. Ayres for the Violin: Diverse Bizarrie sopra la vecchia Sarabanda ò pur Ciaccona (4:44)
17. Ayres for the Violin: Preludio in A Minor (2:02)
18. Ayres for the Violin: Passaggio rotto. Andamento veloce (2:13)
19. Ayres for the Violin: Un poco di maniera Italiana (1:17)
20. Violin Concerto in D Major, RV 208 "Grosso Mogul": II. Recitativo. Grave (2:25)
21. Ayres for the Violin: Aria ridicola (0:57)
22. Nasce la pena mia (Arr. for Strings by Johann Schop) (6:51)
23. Seguidillas (Arr. for Violin, Basso Continuo & Castanets by Cristina Prats Costa) (2:09)
24. Violin Sonata No. 7 in G Minor: Sarabande (3:54)
25. Ayres for the Violin: Aria burlesca (2:18)