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In the first decades of the 18th century England, and especially London, developed into one of the main centres of music in Europe. Many composers from all over the continent travelled to London to try their luck as performers or composers. The most famous of them was George Frideric Handel, but there were many more. And the composers represented on this disc are only the tip of the iceberg.
 
The key figure in this programme is Francesco Geminiani. He was an outstanding violinist and pupil of Arcangelo Corelli. He didn't fail to present himself as such, because Corelli was very famous in England and being his pupil would make it much easier for Geminiani to make a good career. It didn't take long before he was invited to play at Court, accompanied by Handel at the harpsichord. Geminiani wasn't just a famous composer, he was also a prolific writer on music. In his book 'A Treatise of Good Taste in the Art of Musick' of 1749 he included the songs performed in this programme. He mainly used them to demonstrate the correct way of adding ornaments, the ultimate goal of which should be to represent the intentions of the composer.
 
According to the booklet the subject of this recording is the "relationships between Italy and England". From this perspective the first item on this disc, a suite of four instrumental pieces which John Eccles wrote for the play 'The Mad Lover' is a bit odd. Music for the stage like this was very popular in England, and after the death of Purcell Eccles became the main contributor to this genre. Although later in his career he tried to incorporate elements of the Italian style into his music, that isn't discernible in this suite which dates from around 1701. Although it is played quite well by Il Falcone, it sounds a bit too Italian to me. In this case I would have preferred some moderation in regard to dynamic accents.

The inclusion of Avison makes much more sense as he was a strong admirer of Geminiani. He also was a writer on music, and in one of his books he dared to state that Geminiani surpassed Handel as a composer; this caused a fiery debate. In recent years most of his orchestral music has been recorded, but here we get probably the most 'Italianate' performance. This is definitely not the way British ensembles play Avison. One could argue that this is going a bit too far, but on the other hand the influence of the Italian masters, especially Geminiani, is probably better exposed here than in previous recordings.
 
Another Italian who settled in London was Giovanni Bononcini, one of the most celebrated composers of operas and oratorios in Europe around 1700. Between 1720 and 1732 he worked in England, although with frequent interruptions. For his first two seasons as a composer for the Royal Academy of Music he was very successful, but soon his Catholicism became problematic and he met growing resistance. Here a cantata for solo voice, two violins and bc is performed. It is introduced by a sinfonia in three sections, the second of which is a largo with daring harmonic progressions. After that we get the usual sequence of two recitatives and two arias. It receives a very fine performance by the soprano Elisa Franzetti, a singer with a beautiful voice who sings with much expression and also adopts rhythmic freedom in the recitatives. The performance is a little marred, though, by the too reverberant acoustics.
 
Another Italian in England was Francesco Barsanti. He was born in Lucca like Geminiani, whom he accompanied to London in 1714. He married a woman from Scotland and had much sympathy for and understanding of Scottish tunes some of which he arranged for instruments. Here we hear one of the Overtures from his op. 4 which also shows Scottish influences. In the last movement, paesana (allegro con spirito), the sound of the Scottish folk fiddle is imitated.
 
Handel did not write many solo songs. Of the two presented here only the first is authentic; the second is spurious. There is nothing wrong with the singing in these two songs or in the songs by Geminiani, but Elisa Franzetti seems audibly less at home in this repertoire. Her diction is pretty poor and her pronunciation often rather strange. Even while reading the lyrics in the booklet it is difficult to understand what she is singing. It isn't made easier by the often fast tempi the ensemble has chosen nor by the acoustic circumstances. The balance between the voice and the instruments is less than ideal and this certainly doesn’t help either.
 
This leads me to the performances of the players. I admire their temperament and often I find their approach refreshing as they rightfully underline the theatrical character of the Italian repertoire. However they apply their principles of interpretation too indiscriminately. As a result they sometimes overshoot the mark. Their playing is a little unpolished and the intonation now and then tends to be suspect.
 
With a little tolerance in these matters there is a lot to enjoy here and never a dull moment. The concept is original and the programme has been well put together. In addition this disc contains much repertoire which is hardly known. Reason enough for me to recommend this disc. The programme notes are informative, but the booklet doesn't give the English translation of Bononcini's cantata. Also the words for the second half of the first stanza of Handel's song The Rapture is missing.
 
Johan van Veen
 

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