Scarlatti: Concerti & Sinfonie

This recording presents music by two Scarlattis: Alessandro (1660-1725), composer of innumerable vocal and chamber works, and his son Domenico (1685-1757), famous mostly for his several hundred keyboard sonatas. Alessandro is represented by six Concerti Grossi, a Sonata, and a Sinfonia; Domenico by three Sinfonias. All feature solo instruments: harp, recorder, and most prominently, violins and continuo cello. Alessandro fostered his son's talent, but the two eventually, perhaps inevitably, became rivals, and Domenico left his native Rome for Portugal and then Spain.

Most of Alessandro's music recorded here is somber, solemn, and mournful, full of dissonances and sighing suspensions; four of the six concerti are in minor, but the two in major are bright and sprightly. One of the highlights is the slow, pastoral Finale of No. 6. They vary greatly in form, character, and texture; there is much masterful counterpoint, pungent rhythmic inventiveness, and a chromaticism that seems ahead of its time.

Europa Galante, an excellent Italian period-instrument group, is distinguished by its successful blending of meticulous technical and ensemble execution with musical spontaneity. Notable among the soloists are cellist Maurizio Naddeo and recorder player Petr Zeifart. Violinist Fabio Biondi, the group's director, is outstanding for his virtuosity, beautiful tone, and daring, inventive ornamentation. He deserves our gratitude for rescuing these unfamiliar works from undeserved neglect. --Edith Eisler

Italian Trumpet Concertos & Arias for Trumpet and Soprano

“The Marcello Concerto is lyrically phrased, positively languid in the first movement, and his lines are infused with energy and a controlled, even articulation. Soberly accompanied by tight chamber orchestral playing, the other Venetian concertos are also admirably contained in their assiduity and stylish elegance. The duets with the fine soprano, Mojca Erdmann, are universally delightful.” -Gramophone, November 2009

This interesting release features works by Vivaldi, Scarlatti, Marcello, Baldassare, Tartini, Galuppi and Albinoni.

The listener familiar with the works of Torelli and the other common examples of Baroque trumpet music may be surprised to see the diverse list of composers represented on this Swiss-German release. In fact not one of the nine works on the album precisely qualifies as an "Italian trumpet concerto." The five concertos included were all written for other instruments, mostly an oboe, although Albinoni's Concerto in B flat major, Op. 7/3, is indeed best known in the trumpet version heard here. It takes a modern trumpet to play any of these works; although annotator Anette Unger correctly notes that transcriptions made solo instruments interchangeable for many works, the concertos wouldn't have been thought suitable for the trumpet in their own time.

The valveless Baroque trumpet was a much less agile but more martial instrument than its modern counterpart. The arias by Scarlatti, Vivaldi (from the Gloria, RV 589), and Baldassare Galuppi, by contrast, did actually involve the fiery juxtaposition of soprano and trumpet. The performances here by Hungarian-German trumpeter Gabor Tarkövi, soprano Mojca Erdmann, and the Bavarian Radio Chamber Orchestra smooth over the differences among these works with smooth, technically well-controlled readings augmented by audiophile-quality sound. It's an old-school Baroque trumpet recording, calculated to display the capabilities of the trumpet soloist with lots of sunny diatonic music and crisply executed ornaments. The music is best suited for general listeners rather than for those specifically interested in the Italian Baroque concerto, but Tarkövi, especially, succeeds on the album's own terms. --Allmusic.com