Giuliano Carmignola has proved himself to be the smoothest technician among current period violinists, so it seems natural that he should have gravitated swiftly to Locatelli’s remarkable Op 3 concertos, subtitled L’arte del violino. Published in 1733, they follow the Vivaldian three-movement mould, save for the inclusion in their outer movements of solo passages of extraordinary length and difficulty. Locatelli called these interludes capriccios, and if the title puts you in mind of Paganini then so too should the music, which is an array of virtuoso techniques (including much daring high-wire stuff) undoubtedly constituting the hardest violin music of the 18th century.

Carmignola negotiates them with little apparent discomfort, and indeed there is probably no one who could do so better, but in the end one has to question the musical value of the exercise. Some of the capriccios are longer than the movements which contain them, with effects on the music’s continuity that can only be severely disruptive; one has to suppose that the composer’s intention here was primarily to catalogue the virtuosic capabilities of his instrument.

To be fair, though, he did say that the capriccios were optional, and the concertos which lurk behind them sound attractive enough, lacking the fire of Vivaldi, but offering instead a rather rich mid-century elegance, not least in their minuet-like finales. There is also an affecting wistfulness in places (for instance the siciliano-style slow movement of Concerto No 10, and most of No 2) which makes one wish that we could have heard a couple of these concertos shorn of their capriccios. As it is, it takes a whole CD to get through only four of them.

The performances are all that one could wish for. Carmignola crowns his technical achievements with a sweetly nourished tone and the odd touch of well-merited swagger. The orchestra provides warm support and the recording is a good one. If you feel you need all 12 of these concertos, then you will want to go for Elizabeth Wallfisch’s typically perky performances with the Raglan Baroque Players on a three-CD Hyperion set; perhaps four concertos are enough, though.