Having in their previous releases for Divine Art and Naxos introduced us to “forgotten” concertos by their composer namesake, the Avison Ensemble have at last alighted on the pieces for which he is best known, the 12 concerti grossi fashioned from Scarlatti keyboard sonatas. Though a fine composer himself, Newcastle-based Charles Avison went to considerable trouble with these works, published in 1744 and arranged from what, in England at least, were some of the most popular keyboard pieces of the day. Most movements were made from the extrovert sonatas recently published in London, but Avison also went to “extraordinary expence” to procure some of the necessary models for slower movements in manuscript. His adaptive work, too, was both skilful and conscientious; Avison felt that Scarlatti sometimes fell prey to “capricious Diversions, or an unnecessary Repetition in many Places” and so ironed some of them out, and although some may feel that these are just the things that are worth preserving in Scarlatti, the result is music in which Corellian music beds snugly with more than a hint of Spanish melodic and harmonic spice – who could resist the fandango strut of the Andante moderato of Concerto No 11? Scarlatti’s virtuoso keyboard textures are also ingeniously realised for strings by Avison, so that listeners unfamiliar with the originals would probably never suspect their unusual provenance.

The Avison Ensemble continue where they left off in their excellent series, with finely presented performances led with natural violinistic flair by Pavlo Beznosiuk. Their interpretations are less pointedly gestural than those of Roy Goodman’s Brandenburg Consort (Hyperion, 4/95R), so choosing between the two may be a matter of taste; perhaps the warmer, more polished sound of the Avisons just puts them ahead.