Latitude 37 made a name for themselves with their self-titled debut CD, a flamboyant and exuberant approach to the music of 17th-century Italy and Spain. The group is comprised of Australians Julia Fredersdorff (baroque violin), Laura Vaughan (viola da gamba) and New Zealander Donald Nicholson (harpsichord). Empires continues to exploring that sound world, this time through the repertoire of 17th-century Germany. However, during the 17th century the borders of the Germanic Holy Roman Empire were being threatened by the mysterious and powerful Ottoman Empire, and it is from here that much of the disc draws its musical inspiration.
The music of the Holy Roman Empire presents repertoire of immense colour, gesture and raw emotional power, represented on this album in the music of Johann Christoph Bach (the nephew of J.S. Bach’s grandfather), Buxtehude, Biber and Gottfried Finger. Germany’s Lutheran religion put much value on the communicative powers of music, and the immense despair felt by the nation after thirty years of religious conflict was also expressed through its music.