The impression created by the first track on Michelucci's recording, the opening of the Concerto, BWV1042 is, I fear, not misleading; it persists through every other outer movement of the three violin concertos. Slow tempos, some of them as effective as barbiturates, are associated with flat and spiritless delivery. Michelucci appears to take a 'democratic' view of his lines—that all notes are pretty much equal and should receive about the same degree of attention, and, sounding as though they are playing 'just one more gig', I Musici seem resigned to it. Occasionally over-earnest vibrato, the odd inverted ornament and some patches of near-miss intonation are mere drops in the bucketful of woes. Most of the same ills afflict the slow movements- that of BWV1043, the sicilianalike lilt of which [s entirely lost, could hardly stroll more slowly without losing its balance. There is a little more life in the Double Concerto, BWV1060, perhaps injected by the oboist, Leo Driehuys, who plays well enough to arouse one's curiosity as to how much better he might have fared in more stimulating company. The same programme is more happily presented in Sitkovetsky's recording, in which there is far greater evidence of life and expressive feeling, even when the tempo is only fractionally quicker; Sitkovetsky finds poetry where Michelucci finds little more prose than there is in a telephone directory.
The recordings with Michelucci were made between 1958-61, since when I Musici and their associates have radically improved their approach to baroque music. One can readily understand why I Musici/Philips should now want to offer performances appropriate to these more enlightened times, but that they should do so on a dismally underfilled disc that contains only the three solo violin concertos passes the understanding of your reviewer. The inclusion of BWV1060 in the reissue tacitly italicizes the point, adding to the mystery. More's the pity, too, since these new performances have so much to commend them. Agostini plays with a clear, bright sound and a vibrato whose many colorations do not include purple, and his intonation is as excellent as his grasp of proper style; in the Double Concerto, BWV1043, the partnership with Perez produces every good kind of counterpoint. The flanking movements are brisk and purposeful, though unhurried; the slow ones are gracefully poised and invested with expressive warmth.
Agostini comes much closer to baroque style and feeling than Mutter (EMI), the best of those offering only the three basic concertos, though I am not alone in finding her versions very collectable in their own right. Indeed, there is no better recording of these works by users of modern instruments than Agostini's, with I Musici in splendid form, balanced with the soloist(s) more forwardly than they would sound in concert (but no more so than is customary on disc) and with the harpsichord cheerfully in evidence. The Michelucci reissue is at bargain price but, as a 'bargain' is only a bargain when what one buys is something for which one would have been prepared to pay a higher price, I cannot imagine that this will be enough to satisfy any but the listener to whom this is new territory— and for whom no annotation is provided.
If the prospect of a 48-minute CD at full price concerns you less than the acquisition of the attractive performances it contains, you will not be disappointed with Agostini's, but if Sitkovetsky's Novalis/ASV disc (which includes BWV1060 with Neil Black) is already on your shelf you may rest content with the statusquo.'