NEW MUSIC AND VIDEO KLIP 2011

Tomaso Albinoni
Sinfonie a Cinque op. 2
Ensemble 415, Chiara Banchini

Zig Zag Territoires ZZT090202 colleague Vivaldi, so it makes an interesting change for Chiara Banchini's Ensemble 415 to home in on the relatively conservative five-part sinfonie from his Op 2 of 1700, a publication that interleaved those six works with half a dozen in the newer concerto style (not recorded here). But while the sinfonie are in the four-movement da chiesa mould of Corelli, with more than a few hints of the Roman's coolly classical language about them as well, they yet have character of their own, more melodically angular in places and with a greater sense of freedom. There is also considerable personal skill in the writing, not least in some finely wrought fugues and merrily lilting gigue-finales; Bach very probably knew these pieces, and it is hard not to smile and think of the Third Brandenburg Concerto, composed a few years later, when listening to the last movement of Albinoni's Sinfonia No 5.

Gramophone Magazine, July 2009