Search - Giovanni Gabrieli, Ascanio Trombetti, Francesco Usper :: Italian Music for Cornets and Trombones (1580-1680)

A Remarkable Recording

James Sommerville | Cedar Rapids, IA United States | 05/25/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This remarkable recording attempts to recreate the music of the famous Concerto Palatino della Signoria di Bologna of 1530-1779. The various selections use, besides cornets and trombones, organ, chitarrone, violin, theorbo, curtal and harpsichord. The cornets (or cornetts) featured here aren't the "cornets-a-piston" that were the backbone of the bands of the pre-1950s era. These cornets are also played with a cupped mouthpiece but are leather-covered wooden instruments with finger holes. It was said that of all instruments these old cornets sound most like the human voice; their sound is so lovely that one wonders why they went out of fashion. To my ears, prolonged exposure to this music, played on modern brass instruments, generates a certain weariness of the flesh because of the incessant brightness of the trumpets. These performances with cornets give a different, and, I believe, more authentic idea of what the music sounded like back in its heyday. The liner notes give interesting information about the history of the music but don't give the instrumentation of each of the 29 selections included in this 2-CD set."

Terrific early brass collection

David Drexler | La Grande, OR USA | 02/05/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This music really is better heard on period instruments than on modern brass instruments, and no one does early brass better than Concerto Palatino. This two-disc set repackages all the material from two unavailable CDs: "North Italian Music for Cornetts and Trombones, 1580-1650" and "Sonate Concertate in Stil Moderno" by Castello and Scarani."

Superb recording of this repertoire and one of Concerto Pala

Steven Guy | Croydon, South Australia | 05/28/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I return to this recording very often, it features Concerto Palatino at their very best. The quality of the playing is exceptional and a tasteful and appropriate amount of ornamentation is introduced into many of the pieces, particularly by Bruce Dickey and Doron David Sherwin. The pieces are well chosen and a great variety of music is presented. Anyone who is curious about the sound of cornetts and early trombones should endeavour to acquire a copy of this marvellous CD."