Dan Laurin

During the 17th and 18th centuries, Naples’ fame as a musical centre attracted travellers, composers, instrumentalists and virtuoso singers alike. Among the aspiring musicians, the most highly-trained and sought-after were the castrati, promising boys aged between 8 and 12 who were subjected to an operation intended to preserve the exceptionally pure timbre of their treble voice. Forever virginal beings whose superhuman voices mesmerized their listeners they were nicknamed angiolilli, ‘little angels’, and sang in the most important churches and theatres of ‘Castrapolis’, a term coined to describe the southern capital and its high concentration of castrato sopranos.

Since 1987, Dan Laurin has released some thirty titles on BIS. On his latest disc, Sonates et Suites he has chosen to visit France at an exciting point in time. In the early 18th century, when all of the sonatas and suites included here were composed, the system of censorship that ensured that nothing was printed without royal permission was beginning to crumble, at least in the field of music.

Dan Laurin has made a name for himself as an intrepid musician who never hesitates to venture into uncharted territory, as testified by his numerous recordings of contemporary recorder works, as well as by his monumental achievement in recording the complete (10 hours!) 17th century Der Fluyten Lust-hof by Jacob van Eyck. As he now turns to one of the most recorded works in Western music, his approach is as fresh and original as ever. With the aid of the highly praised Polish ensemble Arte dei Suonatori, Laurin gives us Vivaldi’s humming insects, pounding summer rain and drunken village revels in a way we’ve never before heard them.

The opening Overture (Suite) in A minor is one of Telemann's most ambitious concerted works, running to seven distinct dance movements in 30 minutes. The rhythmic shifts in the "Air à l'Italien" are pretty abrupt and really catch your attention. Of the three concertos, the Double Concerto in A minor for flauto dolce and viola da gamba is a standout, owing to its occasionally explosive gestures and knotty emotionalism. All of these works have been recorded numerous times, but most commonly on the standard transverse flute, but only the F major concerto was originally written for flute, and many versions of the Overture in A minor show signs of having been somewhat condensed.

Es ist schwer auszumachen, wer bei dieser Aufnahme mehr aufhorchen läßt, der Komponist oder sein Interpret.​ Mit einer verblüffenden Virtuosität, die weit mehr umfaßt als nur Klangbrillanz und wieselflinke Geläufigkeit, führt Dan Laurin einen Vivaldi vor, in dessen Ideenreichtum sich ungeahnte Tiefen auftun.​ Wie selten zuvor entfaltet sich hier das expressive Potential scheinbar harmloser Harmonien, und die Gestaltung der auf den ersten Blick einfachen Melodien wird zum leidenschaftlichen Wettstreit der vier Temperamente.​ Dabei schöpft der russisch-schwedische Blockflötist aus einem schier unendlichen Vorrat an Artikulationsnuancen, der es ihm ermöglicht, auf seinem Instrument so ziemlich alles darzustellen.​

For his second recital album for BIS, countertenor and sopranist Nicolò Balducci, ‘a singer of a remarkably sweet sound and distinct vocal agility’ (Gramophone), presents arias that evoke love and pain, two basic ingredients of Italian opera in the 18th century. Often tailor-made for specific singers who were in some cases the foremost castrati from that era such as the legendary Farinelli, these arias expressed resolute valour, unbridled fury and sometimes extreme guilt, to the delight of audiences that enjoyed these operas with their far-fetched narratives inspired by mythology or historical events.

Johan Helmich Roman was one of the leading Swedish composers of the Baroque era, and his music is steadily being recorded, thanks to harpsichordist Anna Paradiso and her period ensemble, Paradiso Musicale, who have led this modest revival on BIS. Paradiso has released hybrid SACDs of Roman's solo keyboard sonatas and the first five of his Flute Sonatas, and here she joins recorder player Dan Laurin, cellist Mats Olofsson, and guitarist Jonas Nordberg in performances of the remaining Flute Sonatas, Nos. 6-12.