What is this? "Holland Baroque Society meets Matthew Halls [in] Georg Muffat?" A group you have never heard of meets someone else you've never heard of in a composer you barely know. Really, it's not that bad.
Matthew Halls is the erstwhile director of the
King's Consort, filling the shoes of founder-director Robert King on his departure in 2005. By September 2008, no recordings of
Halls leading the
King's Consort had been issued, and items led by King are still gradually appearing. You would be forgiven for not knowing of the
Holland Baroque Society, as this is a student orchestra and Channel Classics' Holland Baroque Society Meets Matthew Halls is their first recording. It consists of seven concerti from Muffat's final set of 12, the Auserlesne mit Ernst und Lust gemengte Instrumentalmusik (1701); some of these concerti might sound familiar if you are a Baroque buff, as No. V Seaculum has been recorded numerous times.
These are concerti grossi, and while there are two concertino violins that carry solo parts, there are no wind instruments here to break up the constant onslaught of strings and continuo. If it were an exceptional period-instrument group with a unique interpretive slant on the music, then that might not matter. However, this is a -- very good, actually -- student group, and there is little to differentiate one concerto from the next. The playing is reverent, controlled, polished, and carefully modulated, just not exceptional, and exceptional is what one might prefer in making a choice for this literature, as there are other options for it. On the other hand, the disc as a whole makes for pleasing, if not very challenging, listening, and might well satisfy taken in small doses.