Suspended between the Renaissance and Baroque eras, Merulo’s Toccate are unique compositions which occupy a singular role in the landscape of keyboard music. They are not prototypes, in that they are artistically too mature: rather, they prelude the way of expressing affetti of the “seconda prattica” on the keyboard, an art of which Frescobaldi would later be the uncontested master. The fascination of these daring compositions lies in the coexistence of new and old elements, Renaissance polyphony and Baroque gestural impulses. Claudio Merulo, who lived between Parma and Venice and was active not only as a great organ virtuoso, but also as an editor and alchemist, finds in his music the magic formula of balance between extreme elements which preserve his legacy as a mature and exceptional artist.

This disc contains a selection of beautiful and very individual music for violin and harpsichord by Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach. The performers are two among the most distinguished musicians of the Baroque on HIP (Historical Informed Practice). The music is mostly surprising, as always with CPE Bach. Especially the starting Fantasia is a piece of great freedom that clearly foreshadows the Romanticism. Ryo Terakado and Fabio Bonizzoni already recorded on Challenge Classics the Complete Sonatas for violin and harpsichord by J. S. Bach. Artalinna (FR):�So here we have the new major complete recording of these Sonatas, a landmark achievement because everything about it seems both obvious and moving.

Here is the second volume of Bach’s Sonatas for violin and obbligato harpsichord. Terakado and Bonizzoni offer a thoroughly distinctive account of these famous masterpieces. Their approach combines a deep musical and philosophical insight with a conversational vibe.

Johann Sebastian Bach developed a new style, cembalo obbligato, where the right hand of the keyboard plays as a melody instrument and is given the same importance as the violin, flute or other solo instrument. His sonatas for melody instrument and keyboard instrument include works for flute, violin, and viola da gamba. It seems that the obbligato style interested him more than the traditional continuo role for the keyboard. As for the violin, there are two sonatas written with basso continuo and six with harpsichord obbligato. Among these works, the six sonatas in particular were conceived as a set, with a consistent style and a well-considered key distribution. This set is one of the highlights in the catalog of Bach’s chamber music. Bach’s son Carl Philip Emmanuel Bach writes to Bach’s first biographer, Johann Nikolaus Forkel, in 1774: “The 6 clavier [and violin] trios...are amongst the best works of my dearly beloved father. Even now they sound very good and give me many delights, regardless of the fact that they are over fifty years old.” The key distribution is somewhat symmetric and this suggests that Bach intended these as a set of pieces for violin, comparable to his unaccompanied sonatas and partitas for violin. Additionally, with the exception of Sonata No. 6, this set of works all follow the church sonata style.