(Eyal Streett, Baroque bassoon; Antonia Tejeda, Baroque recorders; Sasha Agranov, Baroque cello)
Even if you’re an inveterate collector of early music recordings, chances are you won’t find many duplications in Rubato Appassionato’s program on this disc. They are mostly Baroque works written either for this instrumentation, or adapted slightly from the originals, which was the fashion in that period anyway. All three instruments are featured prominently in the works by the six composers – these are not just pieces for recorder accompanied by basso continuo.
The Boismortier piece accents the lowest range of the bassoon. I’m not able to pass on many details about the works on the disc because there were no notes as usually furnished in M•A albums, and the only list of the composers and works on the jacket is in gold type against a photo background, making it almost unreadable. The natural acoustics surrounding the trio are a result of the recording venue, a cathedral in Barcelona. M•A’s Todd Garfinkle has made a number of fine recordings in that unique Spanish city. This one happens to be one of the first made with his new solid state digital portable recorder. Using his usual one-point purist micing and 88.2K digital recording, the sonics are exceptionally clean and present.
– John Sunier
