COMPOSERS: Locatelli
LABELS: Naxos
WORKS: Concerti Grossi, Op. 1/1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6
PERFORMER: Capella Istropolitana/Jaroslav Krecek
CATALOGUE NO: 8.553445
To Charles Avison, Locatelli’s compositions were so progressive that they seemed ‘defective in harmony and true invention’, though another critic declared that his playing ‘would make a canary fall from its perch in a swoon of pleasure’. To his contemporaries, Locatelli was clearly a striking figure. Though these concertos are superficially similar to Corelli’s Op. 6 – as the booklet explains – they are far from pale imitations. Hear the highly charged drama of the Largo of No. 1 and the startling cross-rhythms in the first Allegro of No. 5.
This modern instrument performance is admirably crisp and delightful in the allegros, even if the line is sometimes disturbed in the slow movements. The sound, though close, is bright and clean. Hopefully, Nos 7-12 will follow soon. George Pratt