Maestro Corellis Violins – Simon Standage

   in Early Music Today (Jun, 2017)
Arcangelo Corelli’s reputation as an exacting director attracted to his orchestra the finest player-composers from all over Europe which in Rome in 1708 included the three Italians represented here – Giuseppe Valentini, Giovanni Mossi and Antonio Montanari. Corelli demanded the highest standards of ensemble-playing just as director Simon Standage does here at the head of Collegium Musicum 90, whose brilliance and togetherness is a delight throughout the six string concertos on this disc.

In the fidgety second movement fugue of Valentini’s concerto grosso Op. 7 No. 11, published in 1710, the unusual six solo parts dazzle in the complex counterpoint driven by the long catchy subject played at a thrilling sprint. …