Giuseppe Torelli was born in Verona in 1658, the same year as Pachelbel, 5 years after Corelli, and 11 before Albinoni. He moved to Bologna, an important centre of music at the time, in the early 1680s. His opus 8, some of which we hear on this CD, was published in 1709, just after his death. Opus 8 was a set of 12 violin concertos, 6 for one violin and 6 for 2 violins; here we hear 3 for one violin, and 4 for 2 violins. They are in a similar style to Albinoni's later works, they are for orchestra with violin, rather than for virtuoso soloist with accompaning orchestra, the soloist(s) emerge from the strings. This is not to infer that they are simple works, they require highly skilled performers. Simon Standage and Catherine Weiss play superbly, well assisted by Collegium Musicum 90, on period instruments. The forces used are typical, 8 violins, 2 violas, 2 cellos, 2 bass violins ( larger than a cello but with the same pitch), chamber organ and theorbo. These are increased for the highlight of the disc, 3 trumpet concertos, by adding 2 violins, 4 violas, 2 double bass and 1 or 2 trumpets. These trumpet concertos are beautifully played, again they are for orchestra with trumpet(s), the balance between orchestra and soloist(s) is just right. This is an excellent recording, Torelli wrote many works for trumpet, I hope to hear more of the from Collegiim Musicum 90.
(Reviewed by Ross Kennett) See more.
