Avison: 12 Concerti Grossi after Sonatas by Domenico Scarlatti (English Orpheus, Vol 28)
In the days before composers were protected by copyright laws,  publishers, players, and other composers could steal whatever music they liked  and pass it off as their own. Some of them, however, were slightly more honest,  and others, like Avison, both honest and commercially astute. Scarlatti's 30  keyboard sonatas created a sensation when they were published in England. So  Avison took them and arranged them as concertos for strings, thereby bringing  the music to a wider public. In making these arrangements, Avison completely  recomposed much of the music, adding his own ideas where necessary to create a  balanced concerto form. The result is a fresh, entertaining collection,  vivaciously performed here on "authentic" instruments.--David Hurwitz