The Slovak Chamber Orchestra, under the decisive leadership of Bohdan Warchal, take Corelli's concertos very seriously. They play with precision and the concertino musicians with intensity. But the heaviness of their performance, abetted by the use of modern instruments and playing techniques, pervades even the quick movements, allowing no air or silence to permeate Corelli's phrases. The adagio movements are taken much too slowly and as a result sound either ponderous or glutinous. Too often the heavily upholstered ripieno sound lacks clarity, by contrast with the brightness and immediacy of the solo violins. It is a misapprehension to give the harpsichord momentary prominence in the opening movement of the famous Christmas Concerto (No. 8 in G minor)—though a stylistic solecism also committed by Cantilena in their earlier, chamber music-orientated Chandos recording—which effectively turns the texture upside-down; in The English Concert version on Archiv Produktion (winner of an Award in last year's Early Music category), Trevor Pinnock wisely stepped aside from his harpsichord in favour of Nigel North's delicate theorbo continuo playing, which perfectly underpins the sustained upper strings.
What is of broader import is that the performances of the Slovak Chamber Orchestra lack the rhetorical and spiritually uplifting qualities of the much acclaimed English Concert recording. While isolated movements like the brilliant first Allegros of Concertos Nos. 4 and 8 compare very favourably, most do not. These are old-fashioned performances—in most way, at the opposite end of the spectrum from those of The English Concert.'