D Scarlatti & A Scarlatti Violin Sonatas Hi Res

The place of Domenico Scarlatti in the history of 18th century music is certainly exceptional. This exquisite and imaginative group of works is included in the fourteenth volume of Scarlatti’s manuscript sonatas preserved in the Marciana Library in Venice. Although known as keyboard sonatas, research reveals that they were very likely to have been conceived for performance on the violin – multi-movement works, often showing the presence of figured bass accompaniment, rapid changes of register and numerous passages better suited to a violin than a keyboard instrument all support the theory. This is flashy and virtuosic writing for violin at its finest.

Igor Ruhadze's Brilliant Classics recording of sonatas by Locatelli (94736) won warm praise from Gramophone. 'The playing is elegantly supple, the string tone warm, and the architecture of individual movements thoughtfully worked out. All this makes for a pleasant mood and enjoyable listening. The more exuberant pieces are brilliantly and at times breathtakingly performed.'

Ruhadze plays Geminiani: the latest volume in a revelatory project breathing new life into the founding figures of the Italian violin school of the 18th century.

Little-known, late-Baroque chamber sonatas by a Veronese contemporary of Bach and Haydn.

James Strauss (b. November 29, 1974 Recife, Pernambuco) is a Brazilian flautist and musicologist.

This release features a modern transcription of Leonardo Vinci’s solo for violin and harpsichord, which we have coupled with a 1956 recording dedicated to 17th-century Italian music for string ensemble. The program runs from Gabrieli’s canzoni to Vivaldi four-parts sonatas, and includes various obscure works which have very rarely been recorded!

Renowned in his day as a virtuoso keyboard player, Bernardo Pasquini (1637-1710) was the most important Italian composer of keyboard music between Frescobaldi and Domenico Scarlatti. In that capacity his output has output has been surveyed by Brilliant Classics with authoritative collections of his sonatas for harpsichord (94286) and for two organs (94347). However, Pasquini also composed more than 70 cantatas – most of them for one and two voices with continuo accompaniment, of the concise and dramatic kind written by the young Handel after he arrived in Rome in 1706.