The Aurora Ensemble, led by Enrico Garri, take Corelli very seriously. They play on period instruments with both warmth and delicacy, with an eye and ear to period style, in this, the first in a series of CDs devoted to the four volumes of trio sonatas published between 1681 and 1694.
On this disc, there is to my mind an unfortunate tendency to slowish tempos, particularly in the opening movements of Op. 2 No. 1 (where the walking bass barely ambles) and Op. 3 Nos. 9 and 11, which seriously sap the music's sense of direction and rhetorical power. In other slow movements, such as the Op. 1 No. 9 Adagio and the Op. 4 No. 3 Sarabanda, a degree of sentimentality not usually associated with Corelli creeps in. The usually perky Preludio to Op. 4 No. 3 and the pauses between sections of the first movement of No. 10 are made interminable by the players' ministrations. Also dismaying is the intensity with which the suspensions in the Op. 4 No. 10 Grave are sustained and the seeming reliance upon vibrato instead of messa di voce (as, for example, in the Op. 3 No. 9 Grave)—especially considering their stated espousal of a vocal style of instrumental playing.
As with the recording by the Nice Baroque Ensemble reviewed above, I would hesitate to recommend this CD to listeners attuned to authentic performing practices, though of course there is much about it that is appealing.'