The Avsion Ensemble - Handel: Concerti Grossi Opus 6 - Listen: Life With Classical Music

Handel's unrivaled masterpieces of the concerto grosso form and style here receive their finest recording to date.  With irresistibly congenial tunes and engaging rhythms, free-spirited fugues and overall vivacious writing for all instruments, these twelve concertos have remained popular since their publication in 1740.  Pavlo Beznosiuk and his Avison Ensemble have left not a single Handelian note unaccounted for nor a delightful phrase unturned, and the ensemble playing is simply electrifying, crackling and sparkling with the kind of head-on accents and lilting rhythmic lift that this music requires but rarely enjoys.  You don't have to already know this music to appreciate (my favorite) Concerto No. 4 in A minor HWV 322, with its scintillating allegros, or the thrillingly accented opening dialogue of Concerto No. 5 HWV 323, or the many beautiflly drawn slow-movement melodies and catchy, clever dance movements.  This is a triumph of ensemble performance, where everyone is a master of the medium and the material, all of which is beautifully realized by the stunningly realistic, resoundingly vibrant sound engineering.