Rene Clemencic, Clemencic Consort - Biber: Balletti and Sonatas for Trumpets and And Strings (2005)

regular chamber works. It was unusual at the time, as in the seventeenth century there was a clear division of purpose between winds, commonly played at outside events, and strings, which were "indoor" instruments.
The best thing about Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber: Balletti & Sonatas for Trumpet and Strings is that the program is arranged intelligently, so that one does wind up with a case of "Cornetti syndrome," resulting from prolonged exposure to cornetti and their bright, loud, piercing tone, which might lead to a sense of burnout before the disc is over. The bad news, though, is that the recording itself is somewhat noisy, sounding like an analog tape set to the wrong bias setting, though it is fully digital and made only in 200. There is sameness here to the interpretation that makes Biber's music sound run-of-the-mill, something that it is definitely not. Sometimes the Clemencic Consort snaps out of it and there are lovely moments, such as in the Aria of the Balletti á 6. Nonetheless, Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber: Balletti & Sonatas for Trumpet and Strings is not a consistent effort, although it should be said that the competition in this repertoire is only found on discs that are far more expensive than this one.