It is a different album in which a violinist appears on the cover (seems appropriate), but wherein a collection of works by Francesco Maria Veracini are featured, some as arrangements. Entitled Enigmatic Art, the 2007 album on Oehms Classics features violinist Rudiger Lotter with colleagues including Axel Wolff, Kristin von der Goltz, Olga Watts, and Dorothee Oberlinger.
Included works come from his solo violin sonatas, the Sonatae accademiche, the sonatas da camera, and other solo sonatas. The team's choice of works, different continuo colors, and different soloists (violin vs. recorder vs. different violinist) all contribute to a balanced program with sufficient variety. Having the recorder pieces already performed by violin in my collection, having these alternatives made for apt comparisons.
Because of these qualities, I might recommend this album as an excellent "introduction" to Veracini, and it could suffice as your only copy if you'd had enough. The one unfortunate quality about the recording, however, is the sound quality, which I found suffering compared to that of other discs by this composer. What I perceive as a defect may not bother some folks; I feel the whole ensemble is captured in such a way that they sound too far from the microphones. Because of this, the "depth of field" in the recording is obscured so that all the parts sound equally distant together. This also holds back the clarity of some instruments to be heard well within the texture.
The interpretations, however, are creative and played with great feeling. I like the decisions made here better than what we got with John Holloway's recording of Veracini. That said, the performances on violin are not quite as daring as some that were offered by Riccardo Minasi. That said, I think there is little to object to by the ensemble here.
I'd recommend potential buyers to audition the recording first for my comments about the the dynamics involved in the recorded sound. Otherwise, it's not a bad place to start with the composer famous for jumping out of a window.
