Most Agreeable

Some gorgeous palate cleansing early music on this disk by the ensemble Charivari Agreable called Harmonia Caelestis - Caprice and Conceit in Seicento Italy. Works featured are by Bassano, Cavalli, Farina, Piccinini, Cima, Mussi, Picchi, Stradella, Pollarolo, Strozzi and Terzi. The base instrumentation of the group is treble and bass viols, violone, chitaronne, lutes, baroque guitar, harpsichord and chamber organ but on this disk they are augmented by cornett and mute cornett on several tracks and also aditional violin and viola. The stated raison d'etre of the recording is the overlap of repertory for the cornett and violin, both the marriage of the two instruments and their interchangeability. The learned booklet notes detail the detective work and reconstruction that has gone into the performances of these pieces, suffice it to say that the result is a delight conjuring up images of a courtly refined existence ( though bearing in mind my comments when posting recently about the Haydn piano concertos, such images are at odds with the brutal reality of the times for most folk ) As for me, I'd love to be listening to this on the veranda of an Italian country villa accompanied by a fine red wine, rather than in the cold of an albeit sunny English winter afternoon. The music can transport me though.