Corelli Op. 8

Pentatone Studio Masters devoted to music of Archangelo Corelli was recorded during concerts at the Vredenburg, Utrecht in January 2003, produced by Carl Schuurbiers with Erdo Groot as recording engineer. The recording has superb, full-bodied sound with sonorous string textures (unheard on the previous CD/ SACD). Conductor Simon Murphy points out there is a similarity between jazz and Corelli's music as in the Corelli's' music performers are expected to improvise and add elaborate ornamentation. The result is Corelli with a vibrant sound not to be heard in most other recordings of the composer's music.

La Petite Bande recorded its set during the late 1970s and these are performances which do considerable justice to the music. Brisker tempos, lighter bass string playing and an altogether more imaginative approach to continuo realization bring these concertos alive to an extent hardly realised by I Musici. Sigiswald Kuijken, the leader and director of La Petite Bande, includes a theorbo in his continuo group and this is invariably an effective addition. Both sets field a secure and lively concertino group of two violins, cello and continuo but listeners may well find that the warmer sound and greater degree of finesse provided by the concertino of I Musici is more to their liking than the thinner, wirier textures of the other. Having said that, I should add that in matters of baroque style, as in its more highly developed spirit of fantasy, La Petite Bande offers far and away the more satisfying performances.

The 17th and 18th centuries marked the era of Enlightenment, overseas exploration, unprecedented European economic expansion and a flourishing of art and culture, not to mention the birth of the greatest composers in history. From concertos to fantasias, suites to sonatas, Brilliant Classics presents a comprehensive and concise overview of this innovative and groundbreaking period in musical history, the Baroque era. The set opens with Venetian composer Tomaso Albinoni and his famous Concerti a5, in which he was the first Italian composer to use the oboe as the solo instrument in a concerto.

Arcangelo Corelli is a remarkable figure in music history. He belongs to the most famous composers of the baroque era, but his oeuvre is very small in comparison with that of his peers, such as Handel or Telemann: just six collections published with an opus number and some pieces which have been preserved in manuscript. Most composers of his time contributed to more than one genre: vocal music - sacred or secular -, chamber music, orchestral works and keyboard music. Corelli confined himself to chamber music and one set of 'orchestral' music, although that term is probably not the most appropriate to characterise his concerti grossi.

The early music revival has seen a spate of recordings of Corelli's music, both of his famous concerti grossi and of his less well-known sonatas. This recording of the first six sonatas each from Corelli's first and second published works was praised in the "Gramophone" magazine as possibly the best ever. These sonatas were all written for two violins plus "violone or archlute" plus organ or harpischord. After studying the scores, the Purcell Quartet concluded - and the sound of the recording proves them right - that they should perform the pieces with a violoncello playing the "violone" part, while they vary the bass, using an organ for five of the six Op. 1 sonatas and a theorbo on Op. 1 No. 4, while sticking with a harpsichord on Op. 2.

For fans of Il Giardino Armonico's flamboyant flourishes and exuberant expressiveness, it's like having all your birthdays at once, being presented with this great Warner Classics 11 CD set. My own feeling is that this "free" approach to Baroque music is at its best when applied to the theatrical music of disc 8 or the seventeenth century Italian music on disc 1. The showmanship and playfulness is an absolute joy in many of those pieces. I'm less satisfied with the interpretations of Bach's Brandenburg Concertos, (on discs 10 and 11), which require a different approach, I feel. I like my Bach to be a little more measured and subtle, I suppose. It has no need of the Il Giardino Armonico treatment. On the whole, though, I do love this set and wouldn't be without it.

Immensely popular during his time and maintaining their appeal today, Corelli's 12 Concerti Grossi, Op. 6, are among the gold standard for the form. They are divided into two sections, one being six concerti da camera and the other being six concerti da chiesa. The informatively written liner notes for this Harmonia Mundi album describe the potentially immense orchestra (for the time) that Corelli may have employed for his performances; this recording, however, uses more modest numbers, taking into account the different needs for the "da Camera" and "da Chiesa" concerti. French-based Ensemble 415 (which takes its name from a common Baroque tuning frequency) is led by its founder, violinist Chiara Banchini.

The chamber orchestra Cappella Istropolitana was founded in 1983, taking its name from the Roman Istropolis, the city on the Danube that is the modern Bratislava, a name that had been perpetuated in the renowned Renaissance Universitas Istropolitana. The orchestra has appeared throughout the world and has won distinction in the recording, broadcasting and television studios, working often under distinguished conductors in a comprehensive repertoire; it has more than ninety CDs to its credit. In 1991 the City Council appointed the orchestra Chamber Orchestra of the City of Bratislava.

If Michel Corrette was a little over-enthusiastic in crediting Corelli with the invention of both sonata and concerto form as it was known and understood in the mid-eighteenth century, Roger North had only to judge by the enormous popularity of the Italian master's works in England in the 1720s to deduce that they would be immortal… Monica Huggett…brings a sweetness of tone and a perfection of technical control that cannot but inspire admiration on their own count, but in combination with such unerring musical insight as is to be found here makes these into quite masterly interpretations… The continuo members of Trio Sonnerie are unerringly tasteful in their playing, while Nigel North on theorbo and other plucked instruments is quite stunningly imaginative.