A review of this thoroughly enjoyable and technically first class
recording of the Twelve Concerti Grossi has already appeared on
this site, written by Brian
Wilson. He went into some detail regarding the origin of the
work and also relating the provenance of the movements derived
from Scarlatti. As he says, Divine Art makes all this crystal
clear in its booklet notes, fine ones by the way, as is by now
usual.
I’m going to concentrate
instead on the many virtues of both music and performance
and to recommend once again this fast rising ensemble. Beznosiuk
has been a leading original instrument practitioner for a
good long while now and his experience in the repertory and
his direction of The Avison Ensemble is evident at every turn.
Each Concerto
Grosso is cast in four movements, of the standard slow-fast-slow-fast
kind. From the A major, which starts the set one is aware
of the lithe sonority cultivated by the ensemble, of the interplay
between the strings and the two violin concertino and of the
well balanced weight throughout – the orchestra is 6-2-2-1
with the harpsichord played by Roger Hamilton. There is also
warmth, as one can feel in the Amoroso of the same
A major work. Where definition is required it duly appears,
as in the etched bass line of the Allegro of No.2 and
where Avison asks for spiritoso, as he does in the
Allegro second movement of the D minor [No.3] we find the
ensemble more than happy to meet the request.
The Allegro
of No.4 in A minor fizzes by – it’s taken from the sonata
Kk3 – and is laced with the kind of wit that Beznosiuk so
readily finds in the music. The ensuing Largo is stately
– Avison is good at touches of pomposo – whereas the
opening Largo of No.5 is quite dramatic. Michael Nyman
should get his hands on it. These kinds of pleasures and virtues
abound in this two CD set. The wistfully withdrawn Siciliana
of No.9 and the affecting Andante moderato of No.11
in G major are equally supple and delightful. And note too
the daring dynamics cultivated by Beznosiuk and the ensemble
in the finale of No.12 or the exciting and biting verve cultivated
in the same Concerto Grosso’s second movement.
In short this
is another fine exploration of Avison’s under explored legacy.
The ensemble that bears his name does him further honour in
this excellently recorded survey.
Jonathan Woolf
see also Review
by Brian Wilson
The Avison
Ensemble/Pavlo Beznosiuk 
