Vivaldi: Violin Concerto, Op. 8 No. 6 in C major, RV180 'Il Piacere'

“Beznosiuk is soloist-director, all flinty trills and silky legato in The Four Seasons and pithy grace in the D and G minor Concertos. Alternating archlute and guitar and harpsichord and organ respectively, Paula Chateauneuf and Roger Hamilton pinpoint the constant play of light central to Vivaldi's music. Delicious.” The Independent on Sunday, 6th November 2011

“Beznosiuk and his crack ensemble have produced a modern set second to none. Playing is stylish, colourful and warm” Classical Music, 19th November 2011 ****

“this is a Seasons which mostly keeps dramatic overstatement in check...this excellent UK-based ensemble show[s] why it is rapidly gaining respect as one of the finest period-instrument bands of our time, mercifully bereft of novelty factor or proselytizing zeal and offering up performances which are as entertaining, compelling and colourful as they are authoritative and polished...A very impressive addition to the discography of this fine group.” International Record Review, January 2012

“I've always admired the suavity and subtle imaginative colouring of the Avison Ensemble's performances...Here Vivaldi's grosser programmatic intentions are made the subject of speculation rather than plain realisation...Beznosiuk's playing is a marvel both here and throughout the remaining concertos...and at one with an ensemble which likewise responds to this music with a genuine freshness and intelligence.” Gramophone Magazine, March 2012

“this rendition is played on period instruments, which have often come to mean strong attack, primary colours and sharply articulated phrasing. Not here. The Avison Ensemble takes a gentler approach...Beznosiuk has plainly chosen an approach that suits his naturally mellifluous style. There's little of the rubato that has become such a feature of Baroque playing, and the continuo is often unobtrusive” BBC Music Magazine, October 2012 ***

“Harnoncourt's Four Seasons are still among the most fanciful on disc, with subtle accents and violent dynamic contrasts. The other eight concertos, if a touch mannered, are exuberant despite a dry and noisy ambience.” BBC Music Magazine, September 2009 ****

"This is a delightful, well-conceived programme, executed with refinement of taste and technique." Gramophone

“…the period-instrument band Europa Galante and violinist Fabio Biondi… have taken a new broom to every concerto in the collection. In every concerto they've radically rethought phrasing, articulation, attack and rhetoric. …it's never less than exhilarating. And Europa Galante crowns its recording with a quartet of Seasons designed to make us think again about the music. The better we know the Seasons, the more surprising and effective their new ideas appear...” BBC Music Magazine, October 2006

“…the pictorial effects in the Four Seasons are more poetic than graphic, and the slow movements more measured and subtly expressive. The highlight of the set is the Eleventh.” BBC Music Magazine, October 2006