From the reserved charm of the three Nocturnes to the heroic struggle of the 'Sonata Epica': the major violin-and-piano works by Nikolai Medtner, in a new recording by musicians with an impressive pedigree in the music of this overlooked master of late Romanticism. While Nikolai Medtner (1880-1951) is best known for the cycle of piano sonatas which assure his stature as one of the great pianist-composers of the 20th century, his musical inspiration was hardly confined to expression through his own instrument. Brilliant Classics have already issued a magnificent cycle of Medtner's complete songs, which cover the course of the composer's long career from his Russian childhood to his exile and retirement in London from 1936. Medtner's wife Anna was a violinist, and he seems to have had her in mind when writing his music for violin and piano. Premiered in 1911, the First Sonata was inspired by the figure of Dionysus, Greek god of revelry. Thus the sonata concludes with a wild 'Dithyramb' which works a tango rhythm into the texture. From 1925, the Second Sonata bears the subtitle 'Spring' less in homage to Beethoven's example than to a poem by Fyodor Tyutchev. This is one of Medtner's most overtly 'Russian' works with it's folky spirit and evocations of balalaikas. The third, last and longest of the sonatas was composed in 1938, once Medtner had settled in London. We may hear in it the mingled relief and sadness at the turbulent state of his homeland, and his distance from it. Born in Naples in 1988, Fabrizio Falasca is Assistant Leader of the Philharmonia Orchestra in London, regularly playing with the world's great conductors of our day, but he also pursues a busy solo career of his own, as both a recitalist and a recording artist. This survey of Medtner marks his third album for Brilliant Classics, following well-received collections of Viotti and Busoni: 'Fluent, musical and well-recorded performances' (MusicWeb International). His partner on this occasion is the pianist Antonio Pompa-Baldi, who is renowned in his own right as a specialist in super-virtuoso piano music and neglected composers of the late-Romantic era. He is a regular guest at the Rarities of Piano Music Festival in Husum, Germany and a professor of piano at the Cleveland Institute of Music. His own extensive catalogue of recordings includes collections of solo music by Grieg and Hummel as well as concertos and chamber-music collaborations such as this one with his fellow Italian, Fabrizio Falasca. Together, violinist and pianist tap into the elusive but deep feelings flowing beneath the complex surface of Medtner's ambitious forms and grand narratives. Once Medtner has a listener in his spell, in works such as the violin sonatas, he does not let go.
Cirri: Sonatas & Duos for Cello / Montesinos Defez, Breaking Bass Ensemble
Brilliant Classics
CD
$6.99$13.99Save 50%Mar 25, 2022
This world premiere recording presents four sonatas and four duos by Giovanni Battista Cirri (1724-1808), a cello virtuoso and teacher whose reputation took him across Europe – including to London, where for a time during the 1760s he was employed by members of the Royal Family, and took part in the first concert given in the English capital by the eight-year-old Mozart. By now, however, Cirri’s name has been almost forgotten, save through an edition of dubious scholarship from the 1950s of a viola concerto which is in fact an arrangement of one of his London cello sonatas. His set of six cello concertos Op 14 has been recorded before now, revealing his creative gifts to be not dazzlingly original but always pleasing, and superbly conceived for his own instrument. All cellists of an adventurous disposition will accordingly be drawn to this new collection, which contains work dating from after his return to Italy in 1780, and to his native Emilia-Romagna region. The Breaking Bass ensemble has selected four of the 12 Sonate di camera, and alternated them with four of the Eight Duets for two cellos to make a satisfying contrast of genre and texture within the album. The solo parts of the sonatas bristle with technical challenges as well as attractive melodic writing, and the duos are full of lively exchange between the two instruments, revealing a far more theatrical side to the composer, with the two instruments taking on solo roles and sharing the limelight on equal terms. They were clearly designed for pedagogical use to be performed by teacher and pupil.
Angela Hewitt's voyage of discovery through Mozart's piano sonatas is proving a joy, the works sounding newly minted in vital, alert accounts which respect their scale and sensibility while revealing influences of Mozart's orchestral and concerto writing of the period.
Mendelssohn may have published only one violin sonata (the early Op.4), but that does not signify any lack of inspiration in the others - left in manuscript. The F major sonata which, opens this program from Alina Ibragimova and Cedric Tiberghien is a particularly substantial and ambitious work.
Piani: 12 Sonate a Violino solo e Violoncello col Cimbalo popera prima, Parigi 1712 / Mencattini, Ensemble Labirinto Armonico
Tactus
CD
$29.99Jun 03, 2022
Giovanni Antonio Piani was a son of the Bolognese musician Pietro Giacomo Piani, who played the trumpet in the Neapolitan court. He was born in 1678 in Naples, where he studied the violin at the Conservatory under the guidance of Giovan Carlo Cailò and Nicola Vinciprova. He became a skillful violinist and had a brilliant career, which led him first to Paris, then, from 1721 to at least 1757, to the imperial court of Vienna, where he was the best-paid performer with orchestra conducting functions from 1741 onwards. The only musical work by Piani that is known to us and was published in Paris in 1712 is the collection entitled in Italian “Sonate / a Violino solo e Violoncello col Cimbalo […] Opera Prima”. Poised between the Italian and French styles, the Piani sonatas are accompanied by various graphic marks on the score that the composer is using for suggesting dynamic expressions or articulations as explained within the "Avvertimenti" (Warnings) addressed to the performer, and to which the Ensemble Labirinto Armonico, led by Pierluigi Mencattini, pays the correct attention for obtaining an interpretation that fully respects the intentions of the author.
Castrucci: Sonatas for Violin, Cello, & Harpsichord / Elias, Kishi, Palmer-Jones
Centaur Records
CD
$8.99$17.99Save 50%Apr 01, 2022
Pietro Castrucci (1679-1752) was a student of Arcangelo Corelli. Moving to London in 1715 he became concertmaster of the newly-founded Royal Academy of Music opera house. He went on to be one of the first beneficiaries of the Royal Society of Musicians, and became a trendsetting composer. The works featured on this release are among his finest. These are wonderful, historically informed performances. The works on this release are performed by Gerald Elias, violin; Pamela Palmer-Jones, harpsichord; and Noriko Kishi, cello, this is the first complete recording in history of Castrucci’s inexplicably neglected Opus 1 sonatas, composed in 1718.
Corelli: Opus 2 & 4 - Chamber Sonatas / Beznasiuk, The Avison Ensemble
Linn Records
CD
$29.99Jul 12, 2019
Opus 2 & 4: Chamber Sonatas is the third in The Avison Ensemble’s celebration of Corelli’s chamber music and the fifth album in their critically acclaimed series of recordings with Linn. Released to mark the 300th anniversary of the death of the composer, the ensemble’s greatly anticipated series explores the six opera of the eminent Italian’s chamber music: the concerti grossi, violin sonatas, chamber sonatas and church sonatas. Popular since their publication, Corelli’s two sets of chamber sonatas are a pinnacle of Baroque Italian instrumental music. They demonstrate a superior level of craftsmanship; they are of the highest quality, exquisitely refined and a good example of perfection in music. Corelli’s contribution to the history of violin performance was immense: all six of his published collections of instrumental music demonstrate his exceptional skill as a violinist and composer, but it was in his chamber sonatas that he first used what was to be known as the ‘Corelli clash’.
-----
REVIEWS:
These performances occupy fresh ground. Beznosiuk and the Avison Ensemble have clearly given much thought and attention to their performances: beautifully understated, and allowing the music to speak for itself.
– Gramophone
The Avison Ensemble captures their essence in graceful, finely controlled performances - by turns lyrical, fleet, playful, imbued with an effortless style that eschews mannerisms and fireworks but rather lets the music speak for itself. The string sound is silky and clean; the ensemble neat and subtly articulated.
Bach: The Sonatas and Partitas for Solo Violin, BWV 1001-100
Dynamic
CD
$18.99Jan 28, 2014
• The Bach Sonatas and Partitas for Solo Violin are among touchstone works in the solo violin literature.
• Partita No. 2 concludes with the famous Chaconne, often played as a stand-alone work.
• Italian violinist Luca Fanfoni's discography includes several previous Dynamic releases
• NY debut 2002 – Carnegie Hall
• Luca Fanfoni is violin professor at the Parma Conservatory
The name of Domenico Ferrari (1722-1780) was well known throughout Europe in the second half of the 18th century. He was considered one of the finest violin virtuosos as well as a sublime composer. One of Tartini's best Italian pupils, Ferrari quickly gained fame first at the imperial court in Vienna and later at the Wurttemberg court in Stuttgart. After his successful debut at the Concert Spirituel in Paris in 1754, he was granted a ten-year royal privilege to publish his works in France, where he remained until the end of his life, never to return to his native Piacenza. During his stay in Paris, Ferrari published six sets of sonatas for violin with continuo. His Op. 3, featured on this CD, dates back to 1760 and consists of six sonatas. These works showcase a blend of late Baroque and Classical characteristics.
Ottorino Respighi is best known for his exuberant and expansive orchestral works, such as the Roman Trilogy, but he was also an important composer of chamber and salon music. His musical education began with him learning violin and piano as a child, and for the first 20 years of his career as a composer he only wrote for these instruments. He was an accomplished violinist, and his mastery of the instrument manifests itself in the idiomatic violin-writing heard in the works on this disc.
Respighi's violin sonatas demonstrate the astonishingly wide range of his musical interests and the influences on his style: from early music, through German Romanticism, to impressionist tone colours. They are also a showcase for his remarkable gift for melody. The D minor Sonata dates from Respighi's early period and contrasts lively and energetic outer movements with a gentle yet passionate Adagio. The B minor Sonata, composed 20 years later, is a grander, more intense and dramatic work, and is testimony to the mature Respighi's command of chamber music. The two violin sonatas are complemented by the Six Pieces for violin and piano: these elegant and charming works show the lighter side of Respighi.
These works are performed by award-winning violinist Fabio Paggioro and acclaimed pianist Massimiliano Ferrati, who has been praised by the Corriere della Sera for his "highly refined sound [that] turns to magic".
Other information: - Ottorino Respighi, gone into music history as a sorcerer of colourful orchestration, wrote a substantial oeuvre of chamber music works. A virtuoso violinist himself, he wrote two violin sonatas, which offer vintage Respighi: an eclectic use of various styles, from modal early music, through romantic pathos, to impressionistic colour experiments. - Both sonatas require the highest technical and musical command from both players, and violinist Fabio Paggioro and pianist Massimiliano Ferrati do them full justice: committed and passionate music making! - Contains liner notes and artist biographies. - Fabio Paggioro performs on a Vincentus Postiglione violin (Naples, 1899).
Scarlatti: Complete Piano Sonatas, Vol. 7 / Ullrich
TACET Musikproduktion
CD
$23.99Apr 29, 2022
At the beginning of 2021, a gap was found in the renovations at the church, where the previous volumes of the complete recording of all 555 of Domenico Scarlatti's piano sonatas, with the exception of number 6, were recorded. The present 7th publication with the sonatas K. 236 to K. 265 was thus surprisingly made in the familiar surroundings again. Is it perhaps the finest set to date? We ask ourselves and you, dear listener. Help us! The pianist Christoph Ullrich is always on the lookout for a lively and unconventional engagement with the audience. This leads to interesting and contrasting solo and chamber music programs, but also to the development of new program forms. The thematically very dense musical-literary programs with the BonaNox ensemble, the music theater-related concepts for children's concerts as part of laterna musica and his concert idea "Alchemy of Sound" stand for this.
Domenico Scarlatti: Complete Piano Sonatas, Vol. 12
TACET Musikproduktion
CD
$21.99Mar 20, 2026
Who would have thought at the beginning of the great Scarlatti adventure 15 years ago that there would be no CD at the end? The four of us, who sail the two-voiced oceans of the world in the Scarlatti boat, certainly not: Captain Christoph Ullrich at the steering wheel (keyboard), Gerd Finkenstein in the engine room (grand piano), me as radio operator (recording), and Thomas Seedorf (scientific support and texts) in the crow's nest. All old white men with weathered faces. Well, the CD is still alive. But the project needs another two years... We're going to see it through! Who knows, maybe it will be the last serious big complete edition ever produced for this medium? Then, among many other things, it will also be a tribute to the days when you could still hold what you loved in your hands. Our current position: Domenico Scarlatti wrote 555 piano sonatas. This is volume 12 of 17. Volumes 14 and 15 are already available, a total of 12 double and 2 triple CDs so far. Volumes 13 (already recorded, not yet released), 16 (30 sonatas), and 17 (12 sonatas) are still missing. This means that 513 of the 555 sonatas have been recorded and 477 released. There are still 42 left to go to the home port. We are getting closer to our goal! There are so many interesting, admirable, and thought-provoking aspects to this opus! It would fill books. But we'll save that for the end. Turn these 30 new sonatas into an Advent calendar! Or a January calendar. Every day is unique; every day deserves a different sonata by Domenico Scarlatti!
Neidich plays on a modern reconstruction of an 1810 clarinet, Levin on an 1825 piano, and the gains are naturally most evident in the work which gives the closest ear to sonorities, Weber's Grand duo concertani. He wrote it for himself and his much-admired friend Heinrich Baermann, and it is not a clarinet sonata but exactly what it says, music for two virtuosos. The lighter piano textures are of great benefit in those passages where there is a danger of a modern piano overwhelming the clarinet. This is striking in the slow movement (where a long solo passage for the piano is also built into the music), but also in some of the dizzy figuration in the finale where the piano's right-hand speeds along in thirds beside the clarinet, especially with the piano taking the upper third. The virtuosity seems to hold no terrors for these skilled players, and they bring a suitably Weberian note of sinister darkness to the Andante and a witty flash to the final Rondo. The phrases are often very long: close recording means that Neidich's snatched breaths are very audible, and so are puffs in the middle of phrases suggesting that, unusually for a clarinettist, he is using the technique of 'circular breathing' (refilling the lungs through the nose while continuing to play with the reservoir of air in the mouth).
Danzi's Sonata is an amiable piece that shares with Weber's Duo an interest in giving the two partners equality by occasionally silencing the clarinet. It is charmingly invented, though not as forward-looking in manner as some of his music. Mendelssohn's Sonata is a good deal less evenly inspired than much of the music written in his dazzling teens, with some empty passagework that seems to be on automatic pilot in the outer movements contrasting with striking developmental sections where the composer takes the controls again. Much the most remarkable movement is the Andante, a curiously haunting little song first played on unaccompanied clarinet and charmingly deployed throughout the movement.
The violin was one of Bach's favourite instruments and inspired his most lyrical outpourings. We know he was greatly influenced by the Italian masters whose work he discovered during his Weimar years - by the power of Frescobaldi, the melodic flexibility of Corelli, the sunny grace of Vivaldi - but he developed his own wonderful artistry in writing music of polyphonic density for the violin and 'playing' with it's sound palette. His deep understanding of the instrument clearly enabled him to exploit it's full potential and to write as well as perform music of the utmost virtuosity.
Margola: Chamber Sonatas with Guitar / Ensemble Counterpoint
Brilliant Classics
CD
$11.99$14.99Save 20%Aug 09, 2024
Franco Margola (1908-1992) was an Italian composer who was active throughout the 20th century. During his lifetime, he dedicated himself to composing pieces for musicians in the academic sector, where he found fertile ground and was widely commissioned for both pedagogical and non-educational purposes. His career included various teaching and leadership posts at several Italian conservatoires, not least the Conservatorio di Musica 'Arrigo Boito' in Parma, where he taught composition from 1963 to 1975. Here, thanks to a collaboration with the guitar teacher Renzo Cabassi, he began to compose numerous works for guitar (approximately 250 opus numbers). Margola maintained a close relationship with the historic roots of his art form, and although he experimented with the avant-garde in his youth, he abandoned such tendencies in his more mature compositions. His works are characterised by a 'rhythmic vitality, a "classical" phrase structure, clear diatonicism, and a frequent use of fourths and fifths that recall the elements of his early compositions. ' The aim of this recording is to offer listeners a selection of colourful soundscapes that vary according to the different ensembles. The guitar is the star of this album and takes on new colours in combination with the flute and violin, as well as in guitar duos and trios. Margola's sonatas often provide opening movements that are diatonic and atonal, followed by lyrical cantabile second movements that culminate in sparkling third movements evoking a medieval or baroque feel. The guitar trio configuration features some of the composer's lesser-known works: Sonata (dC 281), the Sonata (dC 228) and Sonata II for three guitars (dC 234). The violin and guitar duo performs the Sonatina (dC 259) and Sonata (dC 754) (first recording). The one-movement Sonata's affinities with the Sonatina indicate that it was probably a preliminary sketch for the latter piece, with which it shares tonalities and several melodic ideas. To the flute and guitar duo are devoted Sonata IV (dC 191) and Sonata II (dC 197). Finally, the last two sonatas on this disc (dC 661 and dC 662) are for guitar duo. The unpublished Sonata (dC 661) was transcribed from an old copy of a manuscript with several parts that were almost illegible, making the transcribers' work a musical challenge that involved balancing notational accuracy with interpretive freedom, guided by a profound understanding of the composer's musical language. Other information: - Recorded September, October, November 2023, Saluzzo, Italy - Booklet in English contains liner notes by the musicians and a profile of the ensemble - The Italian liner notes are available for download at www. Brilliantclassics. com - Franco Margola was a prominent Italian composer who has his musical roots in the 19th century, in particular in the cultural movement which was predominantly interested in instrumental music, as opposed to the opera. Franco's musical language is classicist, with clear formal structures and a leading role for the melody. While his oeuvre encompasses various genres, his works for guitar hold a distinct place in the repertoire, showcasing his innovative approach and mastery of composition. - Margola's compositions for guitar reflect a fusion of traditional Italian musical elements with modernist techniques, using a wide range of expressive possibilities, from lyrical melodies to intricate polyphony, all while maintaining a clear and idiomatic guitar writing style. His use of harmonies, rhythms, and textures adds depth and complexity to the guitar repertoire, earning him recognition among guitarists and composers alike. - This new recording presents chamber music in which the guitar plays a predominant role: from sonatas for three guitars to works for flute/guitar and violin/guitar: wonderfully attractive and expressive music! - Ensemble Counterpoint is a collective of young classical musicians committed to the research on the XX century repertoire, with the aim of rediscovering and revaluing precious gems of Italian music of the 20th century.
Subissati: Sonate per violino solo e basso continuo
DUX
CD
$29.99Nov 01, 2024
Joanna Morska-Osinska is a versatile artist, performing music from the Baroque era to jazz. On this two-disc album, she presents very rarely performed, formally original sonatas by Aldebrando Subissati, discovering and creating their sound anew. In the virtuoso interpretations, together with her partner musicians, specialists in the field of early music performance, she reveals to listeners the sophisticated and imaginative face of forgotten compositions of the early Baroque era.
A century after it's world premiere at Teatro all Scala under Arturo Toscanini, conductor Francesco Cilluffo opened the 2024 season of the Teatro Lirico in Cagliari with this acclaimed production of Arrigo Boito's rarely performed Nerone. Set in Rome and focusing on Nero during a time of conflict between belief in Roman Gods and Christianity, Boito's opera displays a forward-looking harmonic palette with an eloquent and masterly handling of large orchestral forces.
Bach: The Gamba Sonatas with Harpsichord, Piano & Organ / De Carlo, Guglielmi
Fineline
CD
$13.99Oct 20, 2023
I see that we had met in Bach’s profound italianness, in the singing of the melodies that danced in counterpoint, in the rhythmic undulation of his writing. Although in the manuscripts the three Sonatas for Viola da Gamba are accompanied by the harpsichord, we imagined the Viola da Gamba conversing with different keyboard instruments that Bach had at his disposal: a copy of a Mietke harpsichord, a copy of a Silbermann fortepiano and the organ built by Gottfried Silbermann in 1753.
Cimarosa: Keyboard Sonatas Vol 2 / Victor Sangiorgio
Naxos
CD
$13.99$19.99Save 30%Dec 13, 2011
Domenico Cimarosa was the most famous and popular Italian opera composer of the second half of the 18th Century. In the course of a brilliantly successful career he composed more than 65 operas as well as a significant number of other works. Nothing is known about the origins of the keyboard sonatas although from their style and structure they appear to date from relatively early in his career. These attractive, small-scale works were probably intended for study purposes or for domestic performance. The crystalline brilliance of many of the fast outer movements is very appealing and the slow movements, although somewhat conservative in style, often possess a surprising expressive depth. Of the first volume (8.570718) ClassicsToday wrote: ‘Sangiorgio’s clean, even-handed, excellently engineered performances are ideal.’
