Apart from one very serious problem, this is an excellent recital. No composer during the 18th century–and few since–wrote more taxing music for the bassoon than Vivaldi, and here soloist Paolo Carlini rises to the occasion, expertly negotiating the composer’s frequent challenges. Carlini’s deft performances of the Allegro molto of the Concerto in F major and Allegro of the Concerto in E minor are particularly breathtaking. With the exception of Klaus Thunemann (Philips), whose performances display marginally more panache and wit, Carlini has few peers. The period-instrument ensemble Accademia I Filarmonici di Verona likewise delivers impassioned and technically solid support. The problem is with the engineering, specifically the decision to create such a disparate sonic imbalance between the soloist and ensemble. Carlini is placed unnaturally forward in the mix, at times so severely that it sounds as if his room-filling instrument was recorded in an entirely separate acoustic–bizarre, and to say the least, regrettable.
