These concertos have been recorded before but this fresh new outing with the indefatigable Pavlo Beznosiuk and his Avison Ensemble surely creates a wonderful atmosphere and is a safe bet for anyone new to these works. Throughout, there is an innate sense of discovery and charming playing with the violins especially brilliant in the near perfect surroundings of The Jubilee Theatre in Newcastle. Geminiani's music is full of wonderful tunes and Avison's arrangements do the scores full justice, in certain cases there is even added allure and polish to the proceedings which would not have been possible with just a couple of solo instruments.
Divine Art has already served the English baroque repertoire well and with recordings such as these, one can certainly be hopeful for a very bright future with other composers such as Thomas Arne and Henry Purcell hopefully to be represented in this enterprising company's future releases list.
Copyright © 2008, Gerald Fenech