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Avie Records

The Rise Of The North Italian Violin Concerto Vol 1

$19.99

Details

Composer
LEGRENZI NAVARA VALENTINI
Artist
Lawson, Chandler, La Serenissima
Format
CD
Label
Avie Records
Released
Sep 01, 2006
Catalog #
AV2106
UPC
822252210620

About



THE RISE OF THE NORTH ITALIAN VIOLIN CONCERTO 1690–1740—VOL. I: THE DAWN OF THE VIRTUOSO • Adrian Chandler (vn), dir; Mhairi Lawson (sop); 1 La Serenissima (period instruments) • AVIE 2106 (77:51 & )


NAVARA Sinfonia/Sonatas: in C; in a. COMPOSER X Laudate pueri Dominum, RV Anh 20. 1 LEGRENZI 3 Balletti e correnti, op. 16. ALBINONI Concerto in G, op. 2/8. VALENTINI Concerto with 4 Violins Obbligato, op. 7/11. VIVALDI Violin Concertos: in G, RV 310; for 4 Violins, RV 580


According to the booklet’s biography, the Arts and Humanities Research Council awarded Adrian Chandler a fellowship at Southampton University to study the development of the violin concerto in northern Italy from 1690 to 1740, a project that apparently resulted in Avie’s recording items from that literature. Although the title of the collection, “The Dawn of the Virtuoso” might suggest some of Vivaldi’s most fanciful flights, the level of technique demanded by the collection’s works remains on a rather low level. Navara’s five-part Sinfonia or Sonata in C Major (as well as the one in A Minor), for example, may feature what the notes describe as “imposing” violin parts, but they can hardly make an electrifying impression on today’s audiences, inured by Ernst and Paganini to relatively subdued technical feats like Navara’s (while curiously, Vivaldi’s violin parts can still make a listener’s heart pound).


The Laudate pueri Dominum by “Composer X” apparently belonged to a group of pieces that Vivaldi himself had studied. Mhairi Lawson’s rich lower register lends a somber quality to the work, although she brings startlingly dramatic excitement to the “Suscitans” section. Legrenzi’s Balletti e corrente (a selection of six very brief pieces scored for what the Adrian Chandler’s notes describe as the “typical” north Italian ensemble of two violins, alto viola, tenor viola, and cello: Balletto II in G Minor, Corrente II in G Minor, Balletto IV in E Minor, Corrente IV in E Minor, Balletto VI in F Major, and Corrente VI in F) sound bracingly crisp and energetic, bubbling with virtuosic energy if not energetic virtuosity.


Chandler identifies Albinoni’s op. 2 as the first work regularly to include solo passages. But although Albinoni supposedly distributed the “lion’s share” of these in the Eighth Concerto, written for four solo violins with strings, striking solos in the manner of Vivaldi’s Concertos, op. 3 (the tenth of which La Serenissima includes in the collection) just don’t make an appearance. Valentini’s Eleventh Concerto, in six movements (one of them multisectional), sounds far more progressive in the quicksilver writing for the solo instruments in the second movement and especially in the brilliant fourth-movement Presto—as well as in the bold but skillfully laid-out chromatic passages of the opening one. At more than 17 minutes’ duration, the piece dwarfs all the other purely instrumental ones in the program. After all these historical divagations, Vivaldi still sounds masterly, both in his solo Concerto, RV 310, and in the celebrated Concerto for Four Violins, RV 580, to which Chandler and the ensemble have added stirring rhetorical flourishes and richly conceived ornamentation.


La Serenissima, recorded crisply in an amply resonant ambiance, plays with a bracingly accented and thumping, though bubbling, bounce that emphasizes the bass’s strong underpinning role; they eschew both the lushness of modern instrumental sounds and the whining and edgy abrasiveness of period ones. Much of the repertoire may be unfamiliar to listeners, but Chandler and La Serenissima make it highly accessible. Recommended to general listeners as heartily as to students of the period.


FANFARE: Robert Maxham

Tracklist 39 tracks

  1. 1 I. Sostenuto con spirito - Adagio - [Tempo primo] - Adagio - Vivace 01:23
    Track
    1
    Title
    I. Sostenuto con spirito - Adagio - [Tempo primo] - Adagio - Vivace
    Duration
    01:23
    Composer
    Francesco Navara
  2. 2 II. [Allegro] 01:42
    Track
    2
    Title
    II. [Allegro]
    Duration
    01:42
    Composer
    Francesco Navara
  3. 3 III. [Adagio] 01:09
    Track
    3
    Title
    III. [Adagio]
    Duration
    01:09
    Composer
    Francesco Navara
  4. 4 IV. Allegro 01:21
    Track
    4
    Title
    IV. Allegro
    Duration
    01:21
    Composer
    Francesco Navara
  5. 5 Sinfonia 01:15
    Track
    5
    Title
    Sinfonia
    Duration
    01:15
    Composer
    Anonymous
  6. 6 Laudate pueri Dominum 02:18
    Track
    6
    Title
    Laudate pueri Dominum
    Duration
    02:18
    Composer
    Anonymous
  7. 7 Sit nomen Domini 02:14
    Track
    7
    Title
    Sit nomen Domini
    Duration
    02:14
    Composer
    Anonymous
  8. 8 A solis ortu 01:14
    Track
    8
    Title
    A solis ortu
    Duration
    01:14
    Composer
    Anonymous
  9. 9 Excelsus super omnes 02:13
    Track
    9
    Title
    Excelsus super omnes
    Duration
    02:13
    Composer
    Anonymous
  10. 10 Quis sicut Dominus 01:43
    Track
    10
    Title
    Quis sicut Dominus
    Duration
    01:43
    Composer
    Anonymous
  11. 11 Suscitans a terra 02:06
    Track
    11
    Title
    Suscitans a terra
    Duration
    02:06
    Composer
    Anonymous
  12. 12 Ut collocet eum 01:52
    Track
    12
    Title
    Ut collocet eum
    Duration
    01:52
    Composer
    Anonymous
  13. 13 Gloria Patri 01:38
    Track
    13
    Title
    Gloria Patri
    Duration
    01:38
    Composer
    Anonymous
  14. 14 Sicut erat in principio 02:43
    Track
    14
    Title
    Sicut erat in principio
    Duration
    02:43
    Composer
    Anonymous
  15. 15 Balletto No. 2 in G Minor 00:42
    Track
    15
    Title
    Balletto No. 2 in G Minor
    Duration
    00:42
    Composer
    Giovanni Legrenzi
  16. 16 Corrente No. 2 in G Minor 01:23
    Track
    16
    Title
    Corrente No. 2 in G Minor
    Duration
    01:23
    Composer
    Giovanni Legrenzi
  17. 17 Balletto No. 4 in E Minor 01:52
    Track
    17
    Title
    Balletto No. 4 in E Minor
    Duration
    01:52
    Composer
    Giovanni Legrenzi
  18. 18 Corrente No. 4 in E Minor 01:06
    Track
    18
    Title
    Corrente No. 4 in E Minor
    Duration
    01:06
    Composer
    Giovanni Legrenzi
  19. 19 Balletto No. 6 in F Major 01:57
    Track
    19
    Title
    Balletto No. 6 in F Major
    Duration
    01:57
    Composer
    Giovanni Legrenzi
  20. 20 Corrente No. 6 in F Major 00:34
    Track
    20
    Title
    Corrente No. 6 in F Major
    Duration
    00:34
    Composer
    Giovanni Legrenzi
  21. 21 I. Sostenuto 00:53
    Track
    21
    Title
    I. Sostenuto
    Duration
    00:53
    Composer
    Francesco Navara
  22. 22 II. Allegro assai 02:17
    Track
    22
    Title
    II. Allegro assai
    Duration
    02:17
    Composer
    Francesco Navara
  23. 23 III. [Adagio] 00:43
    Track
    23
    Title
    III. [Adagio]
    Duration
    00:43
    Composer
    Francesco Navara
  24. 24 IV. Allegro 01:50
    Track
    24
    Title
    IV. Allegro
    Duration
    01:50
    Composer
    Francesco Navara
  25. 25 I. Allegro 01:53
    Track
    25
    Title
    I. Allegro
    Duration
    01:53
    Composer
    Tomaso Giovanni Albinoni
  26. 26 II. Adagio 01:02
    Track
    26
    Title
    II. Adagio
    Duration
    01:02
    Composer
    Tomaso Giovanni Albinoni
  27. 27 III. Allegro 02:29
    Track
    27
    Title
    III. Allegro
    Duration
    02:29
    Composer
    Tomaso Giovanni Albinoni
  28. 28 I. Largo 02:37
    Track
    28
    Title
    I. Largo
    Duration
    02:37
    Composer
    Giuseppe Valentini
  29. 29 II. Allegro 05:26
    Track
    29
    Title
    II. Allegro
    Duration
    05:26
    Composer
    Giuseppe Valentini
  30. 30 III. Grave - Allegro - Grave 03:35
    Track
    30
    Title
    III. Grave - Allegro - Grave
    Duration
    03:35
    Composer
    Giuseppe Valentini
  31. 31 IV. Presto 01:41
    Track
    31
    Title
    IV. Presto
    Duration
    01:41
    Composer
    Giuseppe Valentini
  32. 32 V. Adagio 02:14
    Track
    32
    Title
    V. Adagio
    Duration
    02:14
    Composer
    Giuseppe Valentini
  33. 33 VI. Allegro assai 01:59
    Track
    33
    Title
    VI. Allegro assai
    Duration
    01:59
    Composer
    Giuseppe Valentini
  34. 34 I. Allegro 02:11
    Track
    34
    Title
    I. Allegro
    Duration
    02:11
    Composer
    Antonio Vivaldi
  35. 35 II. Largo 02:17
    Track
    35
    Title
    II. Largo
    Duration
    02:17
    Composer
    Antonio Vivaldi
  36. 36 III. Allegro 02:18
    Track
    36
    Title
    III. Allegro
    Duration
    02:18
    Composer
    Antonio Vivaldi
  37. 37 I. Allegro 03:28
    Track
    37
    Title
    I. Allegro
    Duration
    03:28
    Composer
    Antonio Vivaldi
  38. 38 II. Largo 02:18
    Track
    38
    Title
    II. Largo
    Duration
    02:18
    Composer
    Antonio Vivaldi
  39. 39 III. Allegro 03:14
    Track
    39
    Title
    III. Allegro
    Duration
    03:14
    Composer
    Antonio Vivaldi