Hi Francis
The musette seems fairly out of tune. By 5.45 the pitch is rapidly losing altitude, finally crashing at 6.30.
I didn't listen that far! As I said, all those Hotteterre pieces tend to sound the same, and yes, "hard driven" is just the phrase for it - which is another reason I didn't stick it out all the way to 5.45, let alone 6.30. A more delicate touch on musette and harpsichord, plus a bass viol to balance the bass line and it would have been so much better. I listened to a couple of clips of the Loibner recording and have to say I prefer the Palladians for sheer verve and fun. Loibner and co. sound very refined which although probably what the original players might have aimed for, does lose a lot of the rustic joie-de-vivre. Without that, one might as well have a "straight" baroque rendering of the original Vivaldi - or even a non-straight rendering, as so brilliantly done by Red Priest. Philip
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