Handel In Italy Vol. 1

   in Early Music Today (Jun, 2016)
The Bach Players are distinctive for their stylish playing, their imaginative programme ideas and for the eye- catching designs of their packaging. This new release, whose title, is – coincidentally – an apposite companion to the disc of sonatas by Johann Michael Nicolai and others played by Passamezzo Moderno and reviewed in these pages. Both albums include sonatas by Marini, Schmelzer and Weckmann, but while Passamezzo Moderno fields two violins in each work, the Bach Players have chosen works that call for a wider variety of instrumental colours, including solo harpsichord toccatas by Froberger and Weckmann.

The least familiar items are a Sonata for violin, cornettino, sackbut, dulcian and continuo and …