2.0 out of 5 stars
Fine playing, disappointing sound, July 17, 2005
This review is from: Baroque Chamber Music (Audio CD)
This recording from 1987 was L'Ensemble Arion's second. The quartet invited famous Dutch recorder player Marion Verbrüggen to join them in a session that covered baroque chamber music for flute and recorder from two centuries (17th and 18th) and from three countries (Italy, France and Germany). Of the pieces on this CD, I have only ever heard Couperin's Concert dans le gout theatral in other interpretations (Kuijkens, Gardiner), so it is a little difficult to assess the prowess of the musicians; my general impression was of fine playing that was made a little difficult to hear by Titanic's rather inferior recording technique in the empty Old Brick Church of West Brome, Ontario, with its obviously awkward acoustics. In the end, I found listening at a relatively low volume via headphones the best solution, but even so the sound was not good, and the basso continuo instruments seemed to be too far in the background, while Marion Verbrüggen's recorder occasionally reached shrill proportions - something that the technicians could and should have done something about.
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