Starter Packs

Complete your collection with these curated titles, grouped at a special discount.

Shop Now
Olde Focus Recordings

Paradise: Instrumental Sonatas Of Antonio Bertali

$18.99

Details

Composer
BERTALI, ANTONIO
Artist
Acronym
Format
CD
Label
Olde Focus Recordings
Released
Feb 25, 2014
Catalog #
FCR901
UPC
707541689991

About



BERTALI 13 Sonatas • Acronym • OLDE FOCUS 901 (63: 59)


Antonio Bertali (1605–1669) is one of those many composers from the Italian States who achieved prominence at the 17th-century Viennese courts of the Holy Roman Emperors. All of the rulers preferred the musical world of late 16th- and early 17th-century Italy, and their various musical directors provided many works along these stylistic lines. Bertali, who assumed the office of Kapellmeister followed Giovanni Valentini’s death in 1649, was especially known for his operas and church music, but his sonatas recall those of Uccellini, Merula, Marini, and Castello. That’s to say, they are a succession of dances, recitatives, fast movements in imitative counterpoint, and slow arias over ostinato basses. They are attractive, distinctive pieces that haven’t lacked for champions in the recent past, though Acronym claims first recordings for six of the sonatas heard on his release.


As for the ensemble, it performs with a rich, full-bodied sound in unison, as I remarked on its almost concurrent release of Pezel’s Opus Musicum Sonatarum Praestantissimarum Senis Instrumentis Instructum (Olde Focus 903). That precision is especially welcome in the faster movements, and the ensemble catches some of the extravagant “take stage” expressivity in the more freely phrased of the recitatives. However, in solo passages, at least one of the violinists (four are named collectively, but never separately) has an unappealingly thin tone and occasional difficulties with going off pitch. They’re not quite as adverse to vibrato here as they are on that Pezel release, but they come close: I counted only two brief uses apiece of slow and fast vibrato applied in the first six of the 13 sonatas. It would at least help with the tonal issues, as would other experiments with violin color that were written about at the time.


Overall, then, this is an enjoyable release, mitigated by anemic tone and pitch issues in some of the solo passagework. Consider as well Quicksilver’s Stile Moderno , which includes one of Bertali’s sonatas, along with many by his contemporaries (Acis 72546). Sadly, Andrew Manze’s tribute to Biagio Marini, Curiose e Moderne Inventioni , is no longer in print on Harmonia Mundi HMX 2907175, though his recording of Uccelini’s sonatas (Harmonia Mundi 907196) still is. All three albums provide a mix of first-rate playing and stylistic sensibility in much the same kind of music.


FANFARE: Barry Brenesal

Tracklist 13 tracks

  1. 1 Sonata a 4 in D Minor 10:04
    Track
    1
    Title
    Sonata a 4 in D Minor
    Duration
    10:04
    Composer
    Antonio Bertali
    Ensemble
    ACRONYM
  2. 2 Sonata a 6 in G Minor 03:37
    Track
    2
    Title
    Sonata a 6 in G Minor
    Duration
    03:37
    Composer
    Antonio Bertali
    Ensemble
    ACRONYM
  3. 3 Sonata a 6 in D Minor 04:50
    Track
    3
    Title
    Sonata a 6 in D Minor
    Duration
    04:50
    Composer
    Antonio Bertali
    Ensemble
    ACRONYM
  4. 4 Sonata a 5 in G Minor 02:32
    Track
    4
    Title
    Sonata a 5 in G Minor
    Duration
    02:32
    Composer
    Antonio Bertali
    Ensemble
    ACRONYM
  5. 5 Sonata a 2 in D Minor 03:21
    Track
    5
    Title
    Sonata a 2 in D Minor
    Duration
    03:21
    Composer
    Antonio Bertali
    Ensemble
    ACRONYM
  6. 6 Sonata a 3 in D Minor 06:02
    Track
    6
    Title
    Sonata a 3 in D Minor
    Duration
    06:02
    Composer
    Antonio Bertali
    Ensemble
    ACRONYM
  7. 7 Sonata a 2 in G Major 08:25
    Track
    7
    Title
    Sonata a 2 in G Major
    Duration
    08:25
    Composer
    Antonio Bertali
    Ensemble
    ACRONYM
  8. 8 Sonata a 6 in D Minor 03:33
    Track
    8
    Title
    Sonata a 6 in D Minor
    Duration
    03:33
    Composer
    Antonio Bertali
    Ensemble
    ACRONYM
  9. 9 Sonata a 8 in G Major 04:02
    Track
    9
    Title
    Sonata a 8 in G Major
    Duration
    04:02
    Composer
    Antonio Bertali
    Ensemble
    ACRONYM
  10. 10 Sonata a 8 in C Major 04:52
    Track
    10
    Title
    Sonata a 8 in C Major
    Duration
    04:52
    Composer
    Antonio Bertali
    Ensemble
    ACRONYM
  11. 11 Sonata a 6 in E Minor 04:32
    Track
    11
    Title
    Sonata a 6 in E Minor
    Duration
    04:32
    Composer
    Antonio Bertali
    Ensemble
    ACRONYM
  12. 12 Sonata a 8 in A Minor 05:44
    Track
    12
    Title
    Sonata a 8 in A Minor
    Duration
    05:44
    Composer
    Antonio Bertali
    Ensemble
    ACRONYM
  13. 13 Sonata a 6 in D Minor 02:33
    Track
    13
    Title
    Sonata a 6 in D Minor
    Duration
    02:33
    Composer
    Antonio Bertali
    Ensemble
    ACRONYM