I have been enjoying this pioneering set of the complete Concerti Grossi Op 6 of Corelli for most of the week. Picking it up at the local Goodwill about a week and half ago, the VoxBox issue (cover above is from a French Pathe edition), from 1963 celebrates the 10th anniversary of the release of this important set, conducted by America Dean Eckertsen with the Corelli Tri-Centenary Orchestra, presumably a New York group made up of such wonderful musicians as Daniel Guilet and Frank Miller, to name a few.
Of Dean Eckertsen, I know nothing other then he was featured on a number of recordings by Vox, most notably this set and a traversal of concerti by Geminiani. This particular set was issued in commemoration of the 300th anniversary of Corelli's birth. In my opinion, this is a tremendous achievement, not only for its pathbreaking nature but also for the stylistic correction of the music making. There was little to base these recording on in 1953 and Eckertsen was truly breaking new ground and he did it with style, polish and great committment. Certainly, this must have been one of George Mendelssohn's greatest coup's for Vox in the early 50's - first rate New York musicians playing almost totally forgotten concerti by a very great master of the middle baroque.
No doubt these concerti influenced both Bach and Handel as they knew, played, and admired the Italian masters like Corelli and Vivaldi. The writing is superb and there are touches throughout that point to music yet to come. Eckertsen captures the spirit of the music superbly, though the orchestra is larger then what we come to expect today, it plays nimbly and there are no romantic excess. In other words, this is pretty HIP for 1953!
Enjoy these gems as I have this week. Vox packed these well, made of heavy vinyl and issued with a red label (I have never seen red label Vox record). The records were in great shape.
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