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Fanfare Magazine: 43:5 (05-06/2020) 
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Berlin Classics
03011285BC



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As one of the premiere historical performance groups over the past several decades, the Concerto Köln has been largely absent from the discography of late. I would guess there are several reasons for this, such as the ongoing project to reconstruct the historical practices of Richard Wagner, something that would seem to take up monumental periods of time. This is not to say that the group has given up on the music pre-1800, but over the past two years the output on disc has been a bit limited. Last year there was a set of arias meant for Farinelli with countertenor Valer Sabadus, along with a paean to one of Vivaldi’s more proficient violinists at the Ospedale della Pietà, Anna Maria, containing a couple of extra works by Baldassare Galuppi, his successor there. A miscellaneous disc of works by J. S. Bach was also on tap, and the year before (2017) there was a set of opera arias by Carl Heinrich Graun. These are slim pickings, and given that during the first decade of this century, the Concerto Köln was noted for its exploration of offbeat and unusual repertory, this seems like treading musical water. To be sure, the players a busy schedule with touring and opera performances; their website notes the recent work with the Dutch Opera in Amsterdam on Handel’s Rodelinda.
 

Here they have appeared with their only release for 2019, a substantial sample of the concerti grossi of Francesco Geminiani. This composer, of course, needs no introduction, as his music has often been recorded before. He himself was no stranger to the international musical scene during his lifetime. As a contemporary of Handel, he was often his rival and even competed against him unsuccessfully as a composer of opera. He made his living as a teacher and was frequently published. During his later years he spent time in Paris, where he was lauded as the instrumental representative of the Italian style In 1755 he returned to England, and passed away in Dublin in 1762. His fame during the later part of the century rested largely upon a treatise on playing the violin, but he held sway over London audiences for his 42 concerti grossi, the latest of which introduce a concertino with an added viola, in essence a work for string quartet and string orchestra. Vivaldi had done much the same thing, so it was perhaps not quite as revolutionary as one might think, but nonetheless he was pushing the development of a genre that was already moribund.

Given that Geminiani’s works in this genre are all so well known, I don’t need to provide any descriptions here. The performances by Concerto Köln are, as one would expect, quite professionally done. They are in tune, and it is clear that they have a good sense of the tempos required. The ensemble gives a nice range of textures, with lead violinist Mayumi Hirasaki emerging with a good sense of solo lines that don’t obscure the flow of the music. In all, it is technically fine, but in my opinion it lacks spark or verve. There is something mechanical and static about the performances, which don’t really say anything new about these works. For my preference, the Tafelmusik recording with Jeanne Lamon offers some better interpretations that outline some of the nuances. These are not bad performances, but just not inspiring. My hope is that this will push the fine ensemble that is Concerto Köln to reassess themselves.
 

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