For some time I've been enjoying the recordings by Café Zimmermann of seven of Avison's twelve Concerti Grossi after Scarlatti, and wondering what the relative proportions of CA and DS there were in the mix - some of the movements sound unmistakeably like Scarlatti, others don't, none of them sound like any Scarlatti sonatas I know (presumably they're all from the collection published in England by Roseingrave in 1739) and obviously the textures are quite different and mostly much more dense.

More recently I've been listening to the Naxos double CD of Avison's own op.6 concertos (played rather well by the Avison Ensemble) and finding that there was in fact much more CA than DS in the former set. It would also be true to say that there's a certain amount of DS in CA, and, as you'd imagine, a lot of Handel's own op.6 as well, though there's something oddly English about the frequent angularity of Avison's melodies and harmonic progressions, and something even odder about the way that the pieces are clearly concerti grossi in the tradition stemming from Corelli, but at the same time, having been publshed in 1758 by a composer born in 1709 (albeit a somewhat conservative one), often betray stylistic traces of a later period.

What I'm trying to say is that I think these pieces and their composer are worth giving a listen. I'm not sure that the spikily expressive performances by Café Zimmermann have much in common with what Avison with his "semi-pro" ensemble in 18th-century Newcastle (among whom, apparently, was the astronomer William Herschel) would have recognised, but to me they make just as persuasive a case for the music as does the Avison Ensemble's smoother (but still well thought out in detail) approach.

Any other opinions?

Ive not heard much of Avison. Another contemporary English composer worth listening to is Capel Bond. I wrote at TOP about him maybe about a year ago, only one CD of music (concertos) available and the only other works known/found are, I think, cantatas which have been performed. Some originality in the concertos for sure, which includes one for trumpet and one for bassoon.

I've not listened to the CD for a while but I can put a movement or two on sendspace if there is interest.

John W

I get the impression that English music in the generation between Handel and Haydn has quite a lot to offer (I know Reiner will agree with this! edit - ah, I see he already has...). Going back to my comments on how Avison's "Scarlatti" concertos are to be performed I just remembered a passage in Sterne's Tristram Shandy which might well contradict my assumptions:

Any man, Madam, reasoning upwards, and observing the prodigious suffusion
of blood in my father's countenance,--by means of which (as all the blood
in his body seemed to rush into his face, as I told you) he must have
reddened, pictorically and scientifically speaking, six whole tints and a
half, if not a full octave above his natural colour:--any man, Madam, but
my uncle Toby, who had observed this, together with the violent knitting of
my father's brows, and the extravagant contortion of his body during the
whole affair,--would have concluded my father in a rage; and taking that
for granted,--had he been a lover of such kind of concord as arises from
two such instruments being put in exact tune,--he would instantly have
skrew'd up his, to the same pitch;--and then the devil and all had broke
loose--the whole piece, Madam, must have been played off like the sixth of
Avison Scarlatti--con furia,--like mad.--Grant me patience!--What has con
furia,--con strepito,--or any other hurly burly whatever to do with
harmony?

That's one of my favourite books. (So far I've avoided the film, for that reason.)

The Avison Ensemble is directed by Pavlo Beznosiuk. It looks to me as if they've embarked on a series of recordings for Naxos. And while we're on the subject of the ensemble, does anyone know anything about this? Reiner?

This time I've been listening to Pavlo Beznosiuk et al playing Avison's opp.3 and 4 concertos. (Also a Naxos production.) I'm impressed with these too, and with the playing. Don't hesitate, you people.