Excellent Avison/Scarlatti
Ross Kennett | Narooma, NSW Australia | 11/06/2007
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Charles Avison: 12 Concerti Grossi
These fine 2 CDs have recently been re-released on the Hyperion Dyad label, so now they are available at a very reasonable price. Here we have 12 Concerti Grossi by Charles Avison based on the keyboard sonatas of Domenico Scarlatti. Avison, 1709-1770, was a Newcastle based English composer, pupil of Geminiani, who, in his early years, lived in the shadow of the great Handel, as did all his contempories. Scarlatti, 1683-1757 was an Italian composer who moved to Spain in 1729 and spent his remaining years writing music for the Spanish court, in particular some 550 short keyboard sonatas for the ladies of the court. These sonatas were the epitomy of elegance and good taste, and were very popular when some became available in England. Avison took some 38 of them and adapted them for movements in his 12 Concerti Grossi, and composed the remaining 12, usualy slow movements, himself. When published in 1744 they were immediately popular, and until recently were his only remembered work.
The elegance of the sonatas was not lost in transcription, indeed it was enhanced, and the interpretation by the Brandenburg Consort, on period instruments, directed from the violin by Roy Goodman is excellent. The joyfull and lively music sparkles from movement to movement, the affection felt by the musicians is obvious. The sound quality is first class, and the cover notes more than adequate.
I also have 6 of these concerti played by Cafe Zimmermann, a group who I consider in the very top rank of Bach interpreters, and I am hard pressed to say who has the better recording. They are clearly different in style, but I have to lean a little towards the Brandenburg Consort as they sound a little more like the 1740s, when Handel was King.
Five stars, no question.
"
Very pleasant music from a little known composer
Philip S. Griffey | Bainbridge I. WA USA | 09/09/2008
(4 out of 5 stars)
"I would concur with almost everything expressed by the previous reviewer, with the exception of the preferred recording. I have a marked preference for the Cafe Zimmermann performance Charles Avison: Concertos in Seven Parts from the Lessons of Domenico Scarlatti, which is a much more vigorous and animated performance. Goodman and his group are more relaxed and elegant in their interpretations.
The opening Largo of Concerto #5, a stunning (and addictive) movement is a good place to compare the two interpretations. In this recording, it is gloomy and foreboding; in the Cafe Zimmermann performance, it has much more tension and momentum.
Unfortunately, the Cafe Zimmermann disc has only half of the concerti (#'s 3, 5, 6, 9, 11 & 12)."
Track Listings (24) - Disc #1