Italian Concertos & Sonatas / Lucia Swarts

$18.99
Label
Challenge Classics
Release Date
April 25, 2011
Format
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    Featuring ⌄
    • COMPOSER
      PLATTI PORPORA VIVALDI
    • PERFORMER
      Swarts, Teatro Lirico, Stubbs
    Product Details ⌄
    • RELEASE DATE
      April 25, 2011
    • UPC
      0608917251623
    • CATALOG NUMBER
      CC72516
    • LABEL
      Challenge Classics
    • NUMBER OF DISCS
      3
    • GENRE
      Chamber Music & Recitals
    Works ⌄

    1. I. Allegro

      Composer: Giovanni Benedetto Platti

      Ensemble: Teatro Lirico

      Performer: Lucia Swarts

      Conductor: Stephen Stubbs

    2. II. Largo

      Composer: Giovanni Benedetto Platti

      Ensemble: Teatro Lirico

      Performer: Lucia Swarts

      Conductor: Stephen Stubbs

    3. III. Presto

      Composer: Giovanni Benedetto Platti

      Ensemble: Teatro Lirico

      Performer: Lucia Swarts

      Conductor: Stephen Stubbs

    4. I. Largo

      Composer: Nicola Porpora

      Ensemble: Teatro Lirico

      Performer: Lucia Swarts

      Conductor: Stephen Stubbs

    5. II. Allegro

      Composer: Nicola Porpora

      Ensemble: Teatro Lirico

      Performer: Lucia Swarts

      Conductor: Stephen Stubbs

    6. III. Adagio

      Composer: Nicola Porpora

      Ensemble: Teatro Lirico

      Performer: Lucia Swarts

      Conductor: Stephen Stubbs

    7. IV. Allegro

      Composer: Nicola Porpora

      Ensemble: Teatro Lirico

      Performer: Lucia Swarts

      Conductor: Stephen Stubbs

    8. I. Allegro

      Composer: Antonio Vivaldi

      Ensemble: Teatro Lirico

      Performer: Lucia Swarts, Richte van der Meer

      Conductor: Stephen Stubbs

    9. II. Largo

      Composer: Antonio Vivaldi

      Ensemble: Teatro Lirico

      Performer: Lucia Swarts, Richte van der Meer

      Conductor: Stephen Stubbs

    10. III. Allegro

      Composer: Antonio Vivaldi

      Ensemble: Teatro Lirico

      Performer: Lucia Swarts, Richte van der Meer

      Conductor: Stephen Stubbs

    11. I. Presto

      Composer: Giuseppe Maria Jacchini

      Ensemble: Teatro Lirico

      Performer: Lucia Swarts

      Conductor: Stephen Stubbs

    12. II. Grave

      Composer: Giuseppe Maria Jacchini

      Ensemble: Teatro Lirico

      Performer: Lucia Swarts

      Conductor: Stephen Stubbs

    13. III. Presto e solo

      Composer: Giuseppe Maria Jacchini

      Ensemble: Teatro Lirico

      Performer: Lucia Swarts

      Conductor: Stephen Stubbs

    14. I. Adagio e staccato - Allegro

      Composer: Giovanni Benedetto Platti

      Ensemble: Teatro Lirico

      Performer: Lucia Swarts

      Conductor: Stephen Stubbs

    15. II. [Largo]

      Composer: Giovanni Benedetto Platti

      Ensemble: Teatro Lirico

      Performer: Lucia Swarts

      Conductor: Stephen Stubbs

    16. III. Presto

      Composer: Giovanni Benedetto Platti

      Ensemble: Teatro Lirico

      Performer: Lucia Swarts

      Conductor: Stephen Stubbs

    17. I. Andante grazioso

      Composer: Leonardo Leo

      Ensemble: Teatro Lirico

      Performer: Lucia Swarts

      Conductor: Stephen Stubbs

    18. II. Con spirito

      Composer: Leonardo Leo

      Ensemble: Teatro Lirico

      Performer: Lucia Swarts

      Conductor: Stephen Stubbs

    19. III. Amoroso

      Composer: Leonardo Leo

      Ensemble: Teatro Lirico

      Performer: Lucia Swarts

      Conductor: Stephen Stubbs

    20. IV. Allegro

      Composer: Leonardo Leo

      Ensemble: Teatro Lirico

      Performer: Lucia Swarts

      Conductor: Stephen Stubbs

    21. I. Preludio: Largo

      Composer: Antonio Vivaldi

      Performer: Lucia Swarts, Stephen Stubbs, Robert Franenberg, Richte van der Meer, Siebe Henstra

    22. II. Allemanda: Allegro

      Composer: Antonio Vivaldi

      Performer: Lucia Swarts, Stephen Stubbs, Robert Franenberg, Richte van der Meer, Siebe Henstra

    23. III. Largo

      Composer: Antonio Vivaldi

      Performer: Lucia Swarts, Stephen Stubbs, Robert Franenberg, Richte van der Meer, Siebe Henstra

    24. IV. Corrente: Allegro

      Composer: Antonio Vivaldi

      Performer: Lucia Swarts, Stephen Stubbs, Robert Franenberg, Richte van der Meer, Siebe Henstra

    25. I. Largo

      Composer: Antonio Vivaldi

      Performer: Lucia Swarts, Stephen Stubbs, Robert Franenberg, Richte van der Meer, Siebe Henstra

    26. II. Allegro

      Composer: Antonio Vivaldi

      Performer: Lucia Swarts, Stephen Stubbs, Robert Franenberg, Richte van der Meer, Siebe Henstra

    27. III. Largo

      Composer: Antonio Vivaldi

      Performer: Lucia Swarts, Stephen Stubbs, Robert Franenberg, Richte van der Meer, Siebe Henstra

    28. IV. Allegro

      Composer: Antonio Vivaldi

      Performer: Lucia Swarts, Stephen Stubbs, Robert Franenberg, Richte van der Meer, Siebe Henstra

    29. I. Largo

      Composer: Antonio Vivaldi

      Performer: Lucia Swarts, Stephen Stubbs, Robert Franenberg, Richte van der Meer, Siebe Henstra

    30. II. Allegro

      Composer: Antonio Vivaldi

      Performer: Lucia Swarts, Stephen Stubbs, Robert Franenberg, Richte van der Meer, Siebe Henstra

    31. III. Largo

      Composer: Antonio Vivaldi

      Performer: Lucia Swarts, Stephen Stubbs, Robert Franenberg, Richte van der Meer, Siebe Henstra

    32. IV. Allegro

      Composer: Antonio Vivaldi

      Performer: Lucia Swarts, Stephen Stubbs, Robert Franenberg, Richte van der Meer, Siebe Henstra

    33. I. Largo

      Composer: Antonio Vivaldi

      Performer: Lucia Swarts, Stephen Stubbs, Robert Franenberg, Richte van der Meer, Siebe Henstra

    34. II. Allegro

      Composer: Antonio Vivaldi

      Performer: Lucia Swarts, Stephen Stubbs, Robert Franenberg, Richte van der Meer, Siebe Henstra

    35. III. Largo

      Composer: Antonio Vivaldi

      Performer: Lucia Swarts, Stephen Stubbs, Robert Franenberg, Richte van der Meer, Siebe Henstra

    36. IV. Allegro

      Composer: Antonio Vivaldi

      Performer: Lucia Swarts, Stephen Stubbs, Robert Franenberg, Richte van der Meer, Siebe Henstra

    37. I. Preludio: Largo

      Composer: Antonio Vivaldi

      Performer: Lucia Swarts, Stephen Stubbs, Robert Franenberg, Richte van der Meer, Siebe Henstra

    38. II. Allemanda: Allegro

      Composer: Antonio Vivaldi

      Performer: Lucia Swarts, Stephen Stubbs, Robert Franenberg, Richte van der Meer, Siebe Henstra

    39. III. Largo

      Composer: Antonio Vivaldi

      Performer: Lucia Swarts, Stephen Stubbs, Robert Franenberg, Richte van der Meer, Siebe Henstra

    40. IV. Corrente

      Composer: Antonio Vivaldi

      Performer: Lucia Swarts, Stephen Stubbs, Robert Franenberg, Richte van der Meer, Siebe Henstra

    41. I. Largo

      Composer: Antonio Vivaldi

      Performer: Lucia Swarts, Stephen Stubbs, Robert Franenberg, Richte van der Meer, Siebe Henstra

    42. II. Allegro

      Composer: Antonio Vivaldi

      Performer: Lucia Swarts, Stephen Stubbs, Robert Franenberg, Richte van der Meer, Siebe Henstra

    43. III. Largo

      Composer: Antonio Vivaldi

      Performer: Lucia Swarts, Stephen Stubbs, Robert Franenberg, Richte van der Meer, Siebe Henstra

    44. IV. Allegro

      Composer: Antonio Vivaldi

      Performer: Lucia Swarts, Stephen Stubbs, Robert Franenberg, Richte van der Meer, Siebe Henstra

    45. I. Allegro alla Militaire

      Composer: Luigi Boccherini

      Performer: Lucia Swarts, Richte van der Meer, Stephen Stubbs

    46. II. Largo

      Composer: Luigi Boccherini

      Performer: Lucia Swarts, Richte van der Meer, Stephen Stubbs

    47. III. Menuetto

      Composer: Luigi Boccherini

      Performer: Lucia Swarts, Richte van der Meer, Stephen Stubbs

    48. I. Allegro moderato

      Composer: Luigi Boccherini

      Performer: Lucia Swarts, Stephen Stubbs, Richte van der Meer

    49. II. Largo

      Composer: Luigi Boccherini

      Performer: Lucia Swarts, Stephen Stubbs, Richte van der Meer

    50. III. Allegro

      Composer: Luigi Boccherini

      Performer: Lucia Swarts, Stephen Stubbs, Richte van der Meer

    51. II. Allegro

      Composer: Luigi Boccherini

      Performer: Lucia Swarts, Stephen Stubbs, Richte van der Meer

    52. I. Adagio

      Composer: Luigi Boccherini

      Performer: Lucia Swarts, Stephen Stubbs, Richte van der Meer

    53. III. Affettuoso

      Composer: Luigi Boccherini

      Performer: Lucia Swarts, Stephen Stubbs, Richte van der Meer

    54. I. Allegro

      Composer: Luigi Boccherini

      Performer: Lucia Swarts, Stephen Stubbs, Richte van der Meer

    55. II. Largo

      Composer: Luigi Boccherini

      Performer: Lucia Swarts, Stephen Stubbs, Richte van der Meer

    56. III. Allegro moderato

      Composer: Luigi Boccherini

      Performer: Lucia Swarts, Stephen Stubbs, Richte van der Meer




ITALIAN CONCERTOS AND SONATAS • Stephen Stubbs, cond; Lucia Swarts (vc); Teatro Lirico (period instruments) • CHALLENGE 72516 (3 CDs: 181:10)


Works by BOCCHERINI, JACCHINI, LEO, PLATTI, PORPORA, VIVALDI


This appears to be the third time around for the works on this disc, having been recorded back in 1997–99, and released individually by Challenge Classics then and once more in 2004–2007. This time, though, all of the works are available on a three-disc set, a sort of compendium, even though the programming becomes a bit more generic than one might expect. Lucia Swarts, a protégée of famed cellist Anner Bylsma, follows her mentor closely in style, with dexterous rapid passages and a sonorous, soaring, lyrical line as appropriate. Brian Robins reviewed the first disc, the Italian concertos, back in 2003, and the others have generally received excellent reviews for her performance in several online venues, so there is little to add here, save for my own immediate reactions.


First, Challenge Classics made no effort in the booklet notes to unify the release. All three of the previous discs’ notes are given verbatim side by side, and there is no overarching continuity or explaining just what “Italian concertos and sonatas” means in this context. On the other hand, despite the incongruity of the works, each has its own special purpose. The first disc is a compendium of concertos from about 1700 to 1730, an excellent means of demonstrating how this instrument came to prominence as a solo during this period. The first Platti concerto in C Major is more of a concerto grosso, with the solo instrument playing in the episodes of the ritornello, emerging as a textural contrast. The Leo concerto, on the other hand, has some extremely difficult passagework in the two fast movements, all of which foreshadow the more virtuosic lines of composer-cellists like Boccherini later in the century. Each of these varies between three and four movements, as one might expect of the late Baroque period, but there is ironically more of a hint of the emerging galant in the second Platti and the Leo, both of which straddle the stylistic periods. Here, the Teatro Lirico period-instrument orchestra provides a good background, with a fine sense of nuanced style and an excellent ensemble.


For the two sonata discs, the term “worlds apart” can distinguish them. Vivaldi writes four-movement works that are interesting but not especially unique. To be sure, he writes long lyrical lines and uses a fair amount of rhythmic syncopation. But it is Vivaldi, and he is deliberately writing apparently for well-trained but non-virtuoso musicians. There is of course no evidence that these were composed for the Ospedale della Pietà, where he worked for many years, but the style may be telling. For the Boccherini, however, we enter a time where the instrument’s potential had been released, thanks to that composer’s technical prowess, including the extensive use of the thumb position. The four sonatas are tours de force , often requiring extreme ranges and double- or triple-stop passages. I am particularly impressed by the first movement of the Sonata No. 2 in C Major, with figuration that really makes the performer sweat. All of these Swarts performs with an ease that is exceptional. One final word about the continuo on these two discs. In the Vivaldi, she expands the size, which I find gives a nice contrasting resonance to the character of the individual movements, while in the Boccherini she has chosen to have it performed by a continuo cello, ably played by Richte van der Meer, and a plucked instrument, varying between guitar in the fast movements and theorbo in the slow. I am not convinced by the musicological arguments for this arrangement, but from a musical standpoint, the results are eminently satisfactory. Indeed, for Boccherini, who spent so much time in Spain, there is more than a nice echo of Iberia in the opening Allegro militaire of the third sonata, with its marchlike rhythms for which the guitar is a perfect accompaniment. If you don’t already own these individually, this set is a good way to incorporate some great pieces from the 18th century into your collection.


FANFARE: Bertil van Boer