"Concept" discs get a bad name, but here's one that works. Alessandrini has come up with the idea of recording the original Venetian concertos that served as the basis for well-known adaptations by Bach. An added twist is his orchestration of Bach's original piece for harpsichord, the Italian Concerto, in the style of the Italian masters whose works served as Bach's models. Alessandrini also supplies the missing violin solo part for Benedetto Marcello's Concerto on this disc. It all comes off so well because the works here are wonderful examples of their genre and because of the marvelous playing of the expert period instrument group, Concerto Italiano, whose playing here is beyond praise. Highlights abound: the surprising staccato movements of the Marcello Violin Concerto, the exquisite playing of oboe soloist Andrea Mion in brother Alessandro Marcello's Oboe Concerto, the zippy Vivaldi Op. 3 No. 11 Concerto for four violins, and the fantasy-filled version of Vivaldi's "La Notte" Flute Concerto among them. A disc full of endless delights. --Dan Davis Buy it now.
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