I Musici Corelli - Bonporti - Telemann - Vivaldi

I Musici, founded in 1952, followed in the path of the Virtuosi di Roma. Felix Ayo, their first violin, had been the pupil of Remy Principe, concertmaster of I Virtuosi. I Musici were a sort of Young Virtuosi di Roma, cadets. At least this is how they were seen by the public, who adopted them the way mascots are adopted. I Musici later went their own way, at least in part, and took on Bach and Handel, Mozart (some splendid recordings of Divertimentos and Serenades), Haydn and Rossini, 20th century composers (Britten, Bucchi, Hindemith, Martin, Roussel), and even the late 19th century with the Little Suite Op. l by Carl Nielsen. More a string group open to a wide-ranging repertory than an ambassador of Italian music. But in the concert on this disk I Musici were still the cadets of I Virtuosi di Roma and offered a program composed entirely of 18th century music that culminated in Vivaldi. Typical of those years was the inclusion of a pre-classical composer - or Rococo, if you like - in a Baroque context.