It's perfectly possible that fans of Baroque violin music will both have listened to a lot of Corelli in their time, and read a fair few sleeve notes on the subject of the truly international success his works enjoyed in their day. Still, three cheers for these Australian champions of his Opus 6 set of Concerti grossi - Corelli's only set of orchestral music, over which a small group of soloists is pitted against a larger ensemble - with their non-Europe-centric perspective, because the engaging sleeve notes to this recording don't simply remind us that even in the eighteenth century his works were circulating as far from his native Italy as North and South America, Syria, India, China and Sumatra, but also that by the early 19th century they were even turning up in Australia. The first documentary evidence is a Corelli “Solo” played in Sydney in 1826.
What period instrument ensemble Genesis Baroque have done with this the set is hugely enjoyable. Recorded in the Iwaki Auditorium of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's Southbank Centre, in the ensemble's home base of Melbourne, there's a smooth warmth to the engineering which very much reflects what's going on in musical terms too. Most obviously through the prominent presence of an organ in the continuo section along with harpsichord and theorbo, and far from simply as a change of colour – it's across the set. Inevitably this makes for a smoothing and less bristling effect than you hear from many bands in this repertoire, and thus a genuine alternative; and the playing itself is still full of bounce and lithe energy. Also to be enjoyed is the brightness and immediacy of the overall string tone, and the attractive soft luminosity and warmth to the violin solos, which themselves are beautifully shaped and coloured, and dispatched with superglued chamber playing. In the overall engineering balance, the soloists are placed close to the ear, but by no means overly so, giving a strong sense of chamber intimacy. To sum up? Bounce more than bang. And bags of warmth. © Charlotte Gardner/Qobuz