Bach, Vivaldi, Marcello: Concerti Italiani

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
"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

Tracks:

Adagio E Staccato
Vivace
Adagio E Staccato
Prestissimo
Allegro, Adagio E Spiccato. Allegro
Largo E Spiccato
Allegro
Andante E Spiccato
Adagio
Presto
Allegro
Andante
Presto
Allegro
Largo
Allegro
Largo. Fantasmi - Presto. Largo
Presto
Il Sonno - Largo
Allegro

Amazon.com

"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

Customer Reviews:

Reviving Dead Guys.......2004-11-24

The Baroque era? Just a bunch of dead guys' dead music. It was three centuries ago, for example, that Bach transcribed some Venetian violin concertos into works for solo harpsichord. (Big deal.) But what if you reversed the process? What if you turned Bach's harpsichord piece "after the Italian taste" into a violin concerto and restored the lost violin parts of some of Bach's transcriptions? Presto, you'd have some brand-new Baroque music, thematically arranged.
Concerto Italiano and its director, Rinaldo Alessandrini, have done just that -- and created marvels. Listen for the use of staccato and silence in the two slow movements of Benedetto Marcello's second Concerti a cinque; the contrast between the serene Adagio and the festive Presto in his brother Alessandro's exquisite oboe concerto; and the second of Vivaldi's amazingly innovative flute concertos, with its creepy "Night" and hypnotic "Sleep" sections.
In 2003, Gramophone declared that Concerto Italiano's version of Vivaldi's The Four Seasons was the finest ever recorded. The pristine Naive Classique recording of Concerti Italiani will similarly raise your spirits -- along with those of a few dead guys.

Superbly Realized Venetian Concerti Bach Had Transcribed.......2004-08-24

This is an astoundingly beautiful disc. The idea is simple, although no one had done it before: record several of the original Venetian concerti that Bach transcribed for his own use, most often for him to play at the keyboard. And then for fun: reconstruct a putative orchestral 'original' for Bach's famous solo harpsichord 'Italian Concerto,' whose original is either lost or possibly never existed; it's possible Bach simply wrote a harpsichord piece in the Italian style and called it 'Italian Concerto'. In the latter case, Rinaldo Alessandrini wrote a violin concerto based on the 'Italian Concerto,' supplying 'missing' orchestral parts. Whatever you think of the idea, it comes off beautifully. Further, Alessandrini's Concerto Italiano (how apt that this group is playing these Italian concerti!) favor us with spectacularly impeccable playing and astounding verve and energy.

There are some especially winning moments in this disc. There is the third movement (Adagio e staccato) of Benedetto Marcello's violin concerto in E minor whose staccato accompaniment limns a countermelody whose chords are played in triplicate thus: ff ppp p. What a striking and effective idea! Then one must mention oboist Andrea Mion's subtlety in Marcello's brother Alessandro's Oboe Concerto in D minor. The whole of Vivaldi's 'La Notte' 'concerto for diverse instruments' in G minor. And, finally, the tasteful reconstruction of Bach's Italian Concerto as a violin concerto, whose superimposed lines of counterpoint add, rather than subtract, from Bach's harpsichord original.

All in all, this is an extraordinarily attractive disc and I recommend it unreservedly.

TT= 63:05

Scott Morrison

Music Review:

Music Review

music review

Music Review

This Is the New Shit [CD-single] [Enhanced] [Limited Edition] [Import]

Lucius Weathersby Plays

Keyboard Wizards of the Gershwin Era, Vol. 1

Mendelssohn: String Quartets, Vol. 1

In London [Live]

Lo Esencial Jose Alfredo Jimenez

Informacion Celeste [Import]

Sonny Boy Williamson & the Yardbirds: Complete Crawdaddy Recordings

Pop Music pop-music-22