Alessandro Stradella (1639-82) is remembered for surviving two attempts on his life by a jealous rival, only to be murdered by an unknown assassin. And he is one of the few composers – only Mozart and Salieri and Palestrina come immediately to mind – to be the subject of an opera (by Flotow, 1844).

San Giovanni Battista, composed for the church of San Giovanni dei Fiorentini in Rome in 1675, is an oratorio that verges on opera. As well as the familiar characters of John the Baptist, Salome, Herod and Herodias, there is an unnamed Counsellor: combined, they form a five-part chorus. The rich string accompaniment is made up of a concertino and a concerto grosso, which play both separately and together. Alessandro de Marchi makes the most of these forces by inserting short instrumental pieces by two contemporary composers at appropriate points in the story.

The music is delightfully varied, and the performers do it full justice. Martín Oro makes a rich-toned John the Baptist. The action begins with John bidding farewell to pastoral delights with a continuo aria; then, as he leaves to make a nuisance of himself at Herod’s court, he embarks on a nautical metaphor aria – winds, sea, billows – with roulades that Oro dispatches with virtuoso precision.

In many of the arias, the instruments accompany the voice rather than simply providing a ritornello. When Herod condemns John to prison, the concerto grosso plays in the first section, the concertino in the second. Antonio Abete rages impressively, his solid bass showing an admirable fleetness. Anke Herrmann’s Salome is seductive and wheedling by turns. This is an excellent disc.