Month: May 2017

Dorina Frati, Orchestra a Plettra Mauro e Claudio Terroni
74:21
Dynamic CDS7787

[dropcap]T[/dropcap]his recording barely qualifies for inclusion in these pages, but given that baroque composers did quite frequently adapt their music to new circumstances, it would be churlish not to include it on the basis that Bach and Vivaldi would (at the least) have been surprised to hear such performances as these. In truth, the three concertos by Bach (the A minor for violin, D minor for two violins and Brandenburg 3!) and six by Vivaldi (one of them even originally written for two mandolins!) are pleasant enough; I thought I would tire of the repeated twanging of strings (especially in slow movements), but it is amazing just how quickly the human ear adjusts its expectations and – perhaps more with Bach than Vivaldi? – the music is all one hears. Technical difficulties mean that some movements are slower than one is used to, but overall I must say that I enjoyed listening to this while driving home from Glasgow Airport the other day. I don’t know that I would actually ever sit down and listen to it from start to finish in one sitting again, but I might dip into it occasionally.

Brian Clark

Adriano Fazio cello, Katarzyna Solecka violin, Anna Camporini cello, Pedro Alcacar theorbo, Lorenzo Profita harpsichord
Brilliant Classics 95408

[dropcap]P[/dropcap]orpora is chiefly and increasingly known for his operatic compositions, and more specifically his work with and for the great operatic castrati Caffarelli and Farinelli. Working chiefly in and around Naples, the full extent of his abilities and the superlative quality of the musical scene there at the time has recently become much more apparent, and these lovely cello sonatas confirm that chamber music played an important part in this very dynamic artistic centre. Such was Porpora’s degree of specialization as a vocal composer and teacher that he called upon the virtuoso cellist Costanzi to ensure that he was writing idiomatically for strings. Notwithstanding Costanzi’s undoubtedly important input, this is overtly vocal music in nature, and even the more rapid virtuosic episodes recall the throat-stretching demands Porpora placed on his singers. These ‘sonatas’ are structurally idiosyncratic in that they are really duets for violin and cello with continuo, the violin providing a simple melodic framework and cello exploring the music more profoundly in concertante  episodes. This may sound very odd, but actually the pieces sound perfectly natural in performance. Adriano Fazio and Kataryna Solecka on cello and violin respectively play with a lovely rapport and with an easy lyricism and musicality, conveying well their justified enthusiasm for this expressive and original music. It is exciting to find the exploration of music-making in baroque Naples extending beyond the field of opera, and unearthing such intriguing treasures.

D. James Ross

Kammerorchester Basel, Julia Schröder
66:35
deutsche harmonia mundi 889853155927
Music by Alberti, Colonna, Laurenti, Perti, Torelli, Zavateri & anon

[dropcap]I[/dropcap]t has to be said that the title of this CD is slightly misleading. 1666 is the date of the foundation of the Accademia Filarmonica di Bologna but, as only the oldest of the composers represented was an adult at the time and two of them weren’t even born yet, the date is something of a red herring. The CD explores the music of a group of ground-breaking Bolognese composers, who – with a couple of exceptions – have sunk completely into obscurity. Giuseppe Torelli is perhaps the only one of them more generally known today, and that largely for his music with trumpets. This selection of sinfonias and violin concertos certainly demonstrates how radically original and ahead of their time the composers of the Accademia were, and Julia Schröder’s beautiful violin playing in the latter brings this obscure bygone age to vibrant life. Giovanni Colonna, Giuseppe Alberti (not he of the bass), Giacomo Perti, Girolama Laurenti and Lorenzo Zavateri deserve to be more than names in an archive register, and it is indeed surprising, and a sign of the embarrassment of riches available in Baroque Italy, that their instantly attractive music has been so comprehensively forgotten. The dynamic, precise and idiomatic playing of the Basel musicians on their baroque instruments is a major factor in the attraction of this disc.

D. James Ross