18th-century Neapolitan composer Leonardo Leo was best known for his operas and sacred music (type Q4778 in Search Reviews), but he also contributed some finely crafted, idiomatic, delightfully inventive instrumental works, including these six cello concertos from the late-1730s. The melodic writing shows the engaging style of a savvy opera composer, and likewise the slow movements exude an emotional range on the level of the period’s more sophisticated arias. In this re-issue from a 1984 session, we hear cellist Anner Bylsma at the peak of his Baroque-cello interpretive powers, his cello’s voice out-front, with big, singing tone, his style extrovert yet fully in the spirit of Leo’s congenial solo writing.
And while the writing can be quite challenging for the soloist, these works aren’t just show-off pieces spotlighting the cello, with the orchestra serving a secondary role. Indeed, the orchestra generally is a true partner, its function tightly integrated with the soloist’s–and Leo further sustains our interest by varying structural and harmonic details from movement to movement and concerto to concerto. And speaking of orchestras: at this time Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra was among a handful of top period-instrument ensembles, and its contribution here is solid and sure, energetic and vibrant, even if the rhythmic precision and clarity of articulation isn’t what we expect–and hear–20 years later from world-class groups such as Les Violons du Roy.
Also, the recording ambience, the domain of a Toronto church, is distractingly resonant, the sound characterized by an “artificial”, processed quality that gives the instruments a larger-than-life presence. Still, this is very good playing of some very entertaining music that’s well worth hearing, especially if you’d like a nice alternative to the late works of Vivaldi.
