Musica Pacifica is an American chamber ensemble based in the San Francisco Bay Area and drawn from the larger Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra. Both groups are leaders in the attempt to transplant the vibrant and commercially successful European historical-performance movement to the U.S., and this disc, like others from Musica Pacifica, features nimble violin and recorder playing made possible by the use of authentic instruments, sharp attacks, transparent textures (the bassoon really buzzes here) and a high level of detail, ...
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Musica Pacifica is an American chamber ensemble based in the San Francisco Bay Area and drawn from the larger Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra. Both groups are leaders in the attempt to transplant the vibrant and commercially successful European historical-performance movement to the U.S., and this disc, like others from Musica Pacifica, features nimble violin and recorder playing made possible by the use of authentic instruments, sharp attacks, transparent textures (the bassoon really buzzes here) and a high level of detail, and a general preference for expressiveness over symmetry. In this program of concertos from the middle eighteenth century, which live up to their billing as virtuoso works, the group follows the tendency to look at Vivaldi as an incubator of Classical styles rather than as a culmination of Baroque traditions. The results are mixed. In the opening Concerto in F major for recorder, two violins, and continuo, assembled by the performers from several different versions of the violin...
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