La Casa del Diavolo

1	Don Juan, ballet: Danza d
2	Symphony for strings & co
3	Symphony for strings & co
4	Symphony for strings & co
5	Concerto Grosso in E flat
6	Concerto Grosso in E flat
7	Concerto Grosso in E flat
8	Concerto Grosso in E flat
9	Concerto Grosso in E flat
10	Concerto Grosso in E flat
11	Concerto Grosso in E flat
12	Concerto Grosso in E flat
13	Concerto for harpsichord
14	Concerto for harpsichord
15	Concerto for harpsichord
16	Symphony in D minor ("La
17	Symphony in D minor ("La
18	Symphony in D minor ("La
19	Symphony in D minor ("La
20	Symphony in D minor ("La
La Casa del Diavolo
1.	Don Juan, ballet: Danza degli spettri e delle furie - allegro non tr 4:06
	Composed by Christoph Willibald Gluck
	Performed by Giovanni Antonini and Il Giardino Armonico
2.	Symphony for strings & continuo in B minor (Sei sinfonie No. 5), H. 661, Wq. 182/5 10:35
	Composed by Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach
	Performed by Giovanni Antonini and Il Giardino Armonico
3.	Concerto Grosso in E flat major, Op. 7/6 17:32
	Composed by Pietro Antonio Locatelli
	Performed by Giovanni Antonini, Il Giardino Armonico and Enrico Onofri
4.	Concerto for harpsichord & strings in F minor ("Berlin"), CW C73 (T. 301/4) 17:46
	Composed by Johann Christian Bach
	Performed by Giovanni Antonini, Il Giardino Armonico and Ottavio Dantone
5.	Symphony in D minor ("La casa del diavolo"), G. 506 (Op. 12/4) 19:17
	Composed by Luigi Boccherini
	Performed by Giovanni Antonini and Il Giardino Armonico

Barnes & Noble

For their first recording in five years, Il Giardino Armonico have chosen a varied program of 18th-century music that, as the liner notes put it, conveys "strong passions." It's an appropriate theme for a group that first gained attention in the early '90s with a notoriously supercharged account of Vivaldi's The Four Seasons. Not all of their recordings since have proved so controversial, but it's good to see that the group and their leader, Giovanni Antonini, have lost none of their vim and vigor. From Gluck's "Dance of the Furies" (familiar from the opera Orfeo ed Euridice but here attributed to a 1761 ballet called Don Juan, where it accompanied the Don's descent into hell) to Boccherini's Sinfonia "La casa del diavolo" (which was inspired by Gluck's ballet), Il Giardino offer the expected mix of brisk tempos, pointed accents, and strongly contrasting dynamics. They're not afraid to turn the heat down to a simmer in Locatelli's Concerto Grosso "Il pianto d'Arianna," a fascinating eight-part psychological portrait, in a way, of the mythical Arianna (a detailed movement-by-movement interpretation is offered in the booklet). And the two works by sons of J. S. Bach -- C. P. E.'s B Minor Sinfonia and W. F.'s F Minor Harpsichord Concerto -- bake more than blister. But throughout, the performances are filled with a bracing energy, and the playing is never less than spot-on. Devilishly good fun. EJ Johnson

Gramophone

The performances can't be faulted: Antonini gets all the fire and fury of the music out of his players without being afraid of relaxing where appropriate.... Heaven knows where you would find this unfashionably mixed programme in a record shop; but seek it out and you will be well rewarded. Richard Lawrence

San Francisco Chronicle

Devilishly inspired. Il Giardino Armonico...brings an infectious, infernal spirit to a program of 18th-century 'pre-Romantic' music. Steven Winn