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GRAMOPHONE (10/2014)
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Early Music
EMCCD7776
Code-barres / Barcode : 0629048174728
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Reviewer:
Lindsay Kemp
‘Hidden Treasures of Italy’ is what the Montreal‑based Arion Baroque Orchestra have called this release; and indeed, when the most famous of five 18th‑century composers on a disc is Pietro Nardini, you know this is going to be discovery time. Thankfully, all the violin concertos here, plucked from obscurity and led with wiry but assertive style by guest director Stefano Montanari, are worth getting to know.
Two come from the Baroque end of the century: Carlo Alessio Razetti is a clear Vivaldian, though only in the finale does his fiery concerto really come into focus, assisted by wintry echoes of The Four Seasons; and Antonio Maria Montanari’s oncerto grosso shows the clear influence of his teacher Corelli while yet emerging with a likeable (and slightly more modern) character of its own.
The other three are more Classically inclined, heightened by touches of Neapolitan sensibility and warmed by horns, oboes and bassoon. Nardini, one of the great violinists of his day, contributes a comfortable and attractive concerto with a wonderfully placid slow movement, while that of Maddalena Lombardini Sirmen – a rare example of a former Venetian ospedale girl who built a professional career – has a no less affecting Adagio framed by quick movements with the agile brio of early Haydn. Christian Joseph Lidarti, Vienneseborn but mainly active in Italy, mixes lyricism with a touch of expansive midEuropean suavity, but I would love to know how the extraordinary first-movement passage, in which gypsy-ish violin figures waft over held orchestral chords, actually appears in the score. Indeed, given the obscurity of all this repertoire, some more detail in the booklet (and a better translation) would have been nice; how much of the virtuosity here comes from the composers, for instance, and how much from Montanari’s ornamentation (especially in the cadenzas)? But never mind; with Arion on brightly transparent, sympathetic and eager form, this is still a disc you can sit back and enjoy.
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