When Jaap Schroder's 1978 recording of Leclair violin concertos was re-released a few months ago, I remarked that it showed how much the sound of baroque string orchestras has changed in the past 16 years. Now to help us with the comparison, here comes a new disc of Leclair's pleasant but under-represented works from a baroque violinist who has been playing at least as long as that, and sure enough Simon Standage and his 14-piece band offer us a richer and more vibrato-blessed sound, even though by modern standards it's one that could be warmer still. Only one work—Op. 7 No. 5—appears on both discs, but that is instructive enough in that its beautiful Siciliano slow movement, zipped through by Schroder, inhabits a different, rather more expressive world in Standage's hands. The same hands, too, find little apparent difficulty in the high-lying passages and frequent double-stopping of music which is, after all, by one of the very finest players of the eighteenth century, and maybe it is Standage's impressive facility that causes him occasionally to start solos at a slightly faster speed than their preceding tuttis. Things always seem to sort themselves out in the end, however, and the overall effects of well-chosen tempos and steady orchestral momentum are never seriously harmed.
As for the music itself, there is less of the distinctive juxtaposition of French and Italian stylistic elements in this selection than one usually finds in Leclair. These works are more consistently Vivaldian than that, not just in the fast outer movements but (Op. 10 No. 1 excepted perhaps) in the surprisingly twiddle-free slow ones as well. These last include among their number another touching Siciliano in Op. 10 No. 5, while highlights elsewhere include an arresting slow opening to Op. 7 No. 2 and a charming rustic episode in the finale of Op. 7 No. 5 which can only make one think of similar moments in Mozart's violin concertos.
This disc is promisingly labelled Volume 1; with eight more of these attractive and skilfully written concertos to be recorded, that must mean two more releases to look forward to.'