The Avison Ensemble/Pavlo Beznosiuk (violin) Linn Records CKD 411 (2 CDs)****

Arcangelo Corelli (1653-1713), the New Grove tells us, was the first composer to derive his fame exclusively from instrumental composition, the first to owe his reputation in large part to the activity of music publishers, and the first to produce classic instrumental works which were admired and studied long after their idiom became outmoded.

Nowdays, his music seems a little sober beside the volatility of Vivaldi. Yet the Adagio from the second of his Op 6 Concerti Grossi was used by Michael Tippet in his 1953 Fantasia Concertante in a way that highlights the sheer harmonic adventurousness of which Corelli was capable. The nicely sprung playing of the Avison Ensemble under Pavlo Beznosiuk conveys the musics vitality in a way that manages to be both relaxed and purposefully pointed. See url.ie/55bm