Chiara Banchini, Ensemble 415 - Valentini - Concerti grossi e a quattro violini Opus VII (2002)

Most listeners to 18th century music in the modern era are well familiar with JS Bach, perhaps his sons Karl Philipp Emanuel, Wilhem Friedemann, and Johann Christian, certainly Handel, Vivaldi, and Scarlatti, and perhaps Purcell. In the last 30 years we are fortunate to have been given access through CD recordings to similar music from the enormous host of contemporaries of these masters of the Baroque, and it is constantly astonishing how high the quality of the written music was throughout the 18th century. Surely there were mediocre or perhaps poor composers, but the sheer number of really good ones continues to amaze. From the Italian Baroque we have long had Corelli, famous more as a model and teacher than for actual music people listened to except perhaps for his "Christmas" concerto, and most students of musical history will know of Monteverdi at the earliest days of the Baroque era. It is mainly through CDs that we know of Galuppi, Pergolesi, Torelli, Leo, Albinoni, Bonporti, Tartini, Bononcini, Cimarosa, Dall'Abaco, Marcello, Manfredini, Locatelli, Pisendel, Rosetti, Soler, Scarlatti's father Alessandro, Zipoli, Veracini, and, yes, Valentini. On this CD you will find a varied set of typically Italian Baroque concerti; those who know only Vivaldi (and probably not much of his work) can only be pleasantly surprised and pleased by this music which has the same range of emotions, surprises, complexity, and eminently singable themes as one would find in a survey of the full range of Vivaldi's concerti.

The performances are bright, appropriately use period instruments and a period sensibility, and the recording is technically quite good as well. If you love Baroque music you can't go wrong with this CD.