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1700

This CD's title refers not to the year 1700 itself, but to the settecento - the eighteenth century - in general. It brings together instrumental works by eight different composers from the various Italian nations and from different parts of that century. The composers range from the famous (Vivaldi) through the less well-known (Geminiani, Locatelli, Galuppi) to the obscure (Mascitti, Pugnani). With that period not having been a prosperous one in Italy, many of them had travelled or emigrated elsewhere in Europe, introducing a variety of un-Italian influences to their music.

Rinaldo Alessandrini's Concerto Italiano here comprises seven musicians, including Alessandrini himself at the harpsichord. The disc is a sequel to a similarly-conceived album 1600 by the same group, which, alas, I haven't heard. Some of the pieces are sonatas which originally would have been intended for small groups; while others (such as Vivaldi's 'Concerto In D major: op.12 no.3') are arrangements of pieces that would have been written with larger ensembles in mind.

The album is like an expertly-conducted guided tour: with a well-chosen mix of repertoire given vivid performances and all very well recorded. My favourite pieces on it include the 'Concerto a Quattro in G minor' by Neapolitan composer Francesco Durante, and the 'Sinfonia Funebre' attributed to Locatelli. Eighteenth-century music from Northern Europe can seem to me overly rigid and decorous, but with its Italian accents, this disc is very much to my taste.

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