Alessandro Marcello: 'La Cetra' Concertos

I am hooked on the baroque age of classical music. The venitians win again ! No end of pleasure listening to my old friend Alessendro and occasionaly his brother ( let us not forget him either). I can only be unfair in my comments I love the time too much!

Marvellous, uplifting music

Delightful music really well played and recording quality good too

Alessandro Marcello's 'La Cetra' concertos have afforded me many delights as a consequence of excellent performances by the Collgium Musicum with Simon Standage, and a fine Chandos recording.

This was a present, It was reqwuested and very much enjoyed.

Alessandro Marcello (1669-1747), the eldest of the Marcello brothers, was, unlike his better-known contempories Vivaldi and Albinoni, a member of the Venetian nobility. He was however a much less prolific composer than Benedetto (1686-1739), his younger brother who had around seven hundred compositions to his credit. Alessandro's keen interest in music resulted in a large personal collection of instruments, ranging from the traditional, e.g. crumhorns, to the most recent and fashionable inventions, e.g. a fortepiano made in Florence in 1724. Many of his concertos involve two oboes, although the best known is the concerto in D minor for solo oboe. Around 1738 a set of six concertos appeared from publication in Augsburg entitled "La cetra" ("The Lyre")in which the composer gave clear instructions as to the scoring with a total of fifteen instruments divided into six groups. The concertos adopt the three-movement pattern of the typical Venetian concerto and may date from well before their publication. The Concerto in B flat major, the final work on the disc, is not from a published collection and is a four-part ripieno, surviving in a Venetian manuscript showing some signs of revision. Simon Standage and Collegium Musicum 90, specialising in historical performances of baroque and classical repertoire, fully do justice to Marcello's music and I would recommend this CD to anyone with an interest in the Baroque and Venetian composers.