Concerto Italiano/Alessandrini

Concerto Italiano/Alessandrini

Trent'anni a Roma

(Naive)

THIRTY years in Rome: that's a measure of the passing of time. I remember Rinaldo Alessandrini's Concerto Italiano as a young Baroque band with a determination to secure excellence. Clearly, he remembers that too, as he reflects in the liner notes of the group's latest album, where the harpsichordist and director considers the distance travelled and the ground yet to cover. He's a little modest, as his group's recent Edinburgh Festival performance demonstrated, confirmed by the new disc, a glorious sampling of achievements from the group's golden history and a breathtaking display of refinement, organisation and sophistication, lifting a veil from music of the early Baroque. Everything in this collection, from the rawness of Monteverdi's Toccata, the mellifluousness in the singing of his madrigals, the scrunch of Gesualdo's music to the serenity of Scarlatti's Agnus Dei, underlines their superiority in their field; and Alessandrini's little outro in his gentle foray into harpsichord pop is lovely.

Michael Tumelty