The sometime Palladian Ensemble takes a first step into a more whippy and multifaceted future in fine fashion with what proves to be i of the most intelligently programmed and entertainingly played discs of the year thus far.
Only archlutist and guitarist William Carter remains here from the original line-up, as a fond change of name points to a new modus operandi for this and future projects. Players volition now come and go as required by the demands of particular programmes, and if the arrival of Palladian newcomers Rudolf Richter (fiddle), Susanne Heinrich (viola da gamba) and Silas Standage (harpsichord) is a amount of a well-managed change, then next recordings are to be looked forward to with relish.
Doubly telling about this recital is the inventive yet idiomatically alert approaching to the well-trod territory of Tartini sonatas and the no less revealing addition of Francesco Maria Veracini�s hearty A major Sonata (Op 1 No.7) to add together telling context.
Tartini's oft-recorded Devil's Trill Sonata comes up here sounding vivid, lively and fresh. Where the fierce technical demands of the demonically-inspired piece ar often glossed over, its invitation to displays of outward showiness all too irresistible (Andrew Manze on Harmonia Mundi an honorable exception), here they are brought into sharp and exhilarating sculptural relief by Richter�s probing, razor-sharp dexterity in what stool be a perilously combustible material piece, and superbly framed by the cultured underpinning of the elegant only incisive accompaniment.
It is a measure of how sensitively attuned to the accent and attitude of the music all four players are, that Tartini's key signature work is blissfully overshadowed by his own Didone abbandonata (Op 1 No.10; also in G minor). The gradations of this emotionally febrile, musically volatile sonata are mapped stunned with a poetic precision that foregrounds its heart-aching turmoil and torment to pungently waxwork effect. From the same opus, the buoyant, light-as-a-feather A major Pastorale (No.13) receives a reading of faultless ensemble shot through with illuminating individual detail.
The inclusion of the five-movement A major Sonata (Op 1 No.7) by Veracini, Tartini's peer and, if present-day accounts ar to be believed, matchless violinist, offers the Palladians a determine of different but no less virtuosic provocations to dazzle and delight, non least the relative exotica of the opening Cantabile and fourth-movement Largo, and the barnstorming Allegro finale.
Playing throughout is impeccable with an astonishing sense of shared ensemble and reciprocality for so newly-assembled a quartet. The recorded sound is up to Linn's usual exemplary standards.
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