This release by Albrecht Mayer lives up to its title: the program items are truly Italian treasures, none common except for the Vivaldi Concerto for oboe, strings, and continuo, RV 450, at the beginning. There are a couple of world recorded premieres, from library manuscripts, making this a more or less essential purchase for libraries and good late Baroque collections. Those two pieces, an oboe concerto by the elusive Domenico Elmi, and the Concerto in C major for oboe, strings, and continuo, Op. 8, No. 4, of Giuseppe Sammartini, are both attractive, but among the other works, hardly better known, are some real gems (or tesori). Sample the Concerto in G minor for oboe, strings, and continuo, Op. 8, No. 5 with its unusual movement structure: two slow outer movements and a tripartite central movement that itself has a central slow section, all logically coordinated with the solo oboe part. Mayer has a clean, energetic style, but the backing by the venerable Musici di Roma lacks a bit of the contemporary crispness, and the sound from the Sala Accademica del Pontificio Istituto di Musica Sacra is vague. Nevertheless, a fine release of excellent music you almost certainly have never heard.
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