The packaging of this album promises sonate a tre, or trio sonatas, by Vivaldi for two recorders and basso continuo; a couple of the pieces have just one recorder part. Those unaware that Vivaldi wrote so much for the recorder will soon discover that these are early violin works transcribed for the recorder. Here recorder players Lorenzo Cavasanti and Manuel Starpoli, along with the members of the young Accademia del Ricercare, are on solid historical ground; plenty of Italian Baroque violin music, even that by such ...
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The packaging of this album promises sonate a tre, or trio sonatas, by Vivaldi for two recorders and basso continuo; a couple of the pieces have just one recorder part. Those unaware that Vivaldi wrote so much for the recorder will soon discover that these are early violin works transcribed for the recorder. Here recorder players Lorenzo Cavasanti and Manuel Starpoli, along with the members of the young Accademia del Ricercare, are on solid historical ground; plenty of Italian Baroque violin music, even that by such traveling virtuosi as Veracini, was arranged by publishers for the cheaper and more accessible recorder, or simply declared to be for either instrument. The work lies easily under the fingers of the players, who deliver attractive performances with good pitch stability and a vigorous rhythmic sense. More intriguing ultimately than the violin-recorder switch is the grouping of music by the young Vivaldi; all of these pieces date from before the mid-1720s, and a few of them are among...
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