The names here are the ones that turn up on most anthologies of early 17th-century Italian string music, but what distinguishes this release is its focus on works for four violins and continuo. It’s a nice idea, and since many of these composers lived and worked in Venice and could have known each other – the violinists among them perhaps performing together in some of these very pieces – it presents the pleasing notion of a musical community exploring the possibilities of their relatively new instrument.

Although not all the pieces are actually for four violins – those being by Uccellini, Rossi, Buonamente (beautifully shaped), Castello (full of rhetorical flair and fire, as ever) and Marini – the idea is kept alive by including sonatas for three by Fontana, Gabrieli (his superbly managed Sonata con tre violini), Uccellini (a catchy and dancy sinfonia) and a Marini sonata for one violin with wonderful overlapping echo effects from two more, as well as a couple of his cautious essays in double-stopping. There’s also a trio sonata by Cavalli, which seems to have been included purely on the basis of its quality and eloquence – as good a reason as any.

The intelligence of the programming is backed up by the performances, which are stylish and engaging. Short gaps between some of the pieces keep our attention and prevent it all from sounding like a history lesson. No descriptions of the violins are given but they sound like the airy early 17th-century models appropriate to this music, played in a manner befitting their characterisation in Purcell’s Hail, bright Cecilia!: ‘brisk without lightness, without dullness grave’. The continuo serves shrewd and discreet combinations of bass viol, bassoon, harp, theorbo, guitar, organ and harpsichord.

The booklet states how, while recording, Clematis were reminded of the quality of the three slightly later sonatas for four violins by Legrenzi, which they themselves have recorded (9/16) and which, they say, ‘bring this Venetian journey to an end’. Would it have hurt to import one of them to this disc?