Geminiani - Alison McGillivray - MusicWeek

Italian-born Francesco Geminiani spent most of his professional career in the British Isles, where his contemporaries included Handel, the Castrucci brothers and other émigré musicians. "The intention of music is not only to please the ear," he wrote in 1751, "but to express sentiments, strike the imagination, affect the mind, and command the passions." Alison McGillivray takes the violinist-composer at his word, drawing expressive and imaginative sounds from her baroque cello in company with a fine team of continuo players. Linn's customary demonstration surround sound adds to the album's artistic success.