Francesco Maria Spanò

The content of “Schranck No: II” represents the rich Dresden instrumental repertoire from the first two thirds of the 18th century with a volume of about 1,750 pieces of music. After the end of the Seven Years’ War, these musical pieces were sorted, inserted into envelopes with their characteristic detailed title labels and deposited in an archive cabinet, the aforementioned “Schranck No: II”, in the court church. Like a time capsule, this treasure was rediscovered only after the middle of the 19th century by the court kapellmeister Julius Rietz. Today, this unique collection belongs to the collection of the Saxon State Library – Dresden State and University Library.

L'Arte dell'Arco now at last has recorded more instrumental works by the composer Francesco Veracini for cpo. The first release met with a unanimously enthusiastic response: »Here everything fits perfectly; here instrumentalists perform with passion; here a very great ensemble is revealed. The team effort is fascinating; here musicians, friends, and kindred spirits are at work. CD of the Month« (Toccata 1/10). The goal of this project is to record Veracinis complete overtures and violin concertos and to combine them with a selection of his most interesting sonatas from the collection without opus number (1716) and his Opus 1 (1721). When these three groups of works are juxtaposed, Veracinis various stylistic characters come into even clearer view.

Two particularly spectacular personalities of the Baroque period, which was not short of exciting figures: Antonio Veracini, violin virtuoso, teacher and composer in Florence. Although he was a highly respected musician and teacher in his own time, only few of his works have survived. His nephew Francesco Maria, to whom he taught violin and composition, was a completely different type.

Francesco Maria Veracini (1690-1768) is today best known as an eccentric violin virtuoso and composer of instrumental music, but he has also successfully operated as an opera composer during his time in London. His first opera Adriano in Siria was created in 1735 for the London Opera of Nobility, the rival company to Handel's opera troupe. The company had only a few years earlier (including the soprano castrato Senesino and Francesca Cuzzoni) poached all singing stars from Handel. Even worse: since 1734, it could also score with the castrato legend Farinelli. Veracini's Adriano in Siria is, in every respect, a spectacular and fascinating opera. The recording of Fabio Biondi and an appropriate illustrious singers ensemble is based on a highly successful concert performance series of the work at the Vienna Konzerthaus in 2013, which made alive again the spectacular opera event of 1735.

After decades during which the unaccompanied violin sonatas and partitas of Bach stood alone, regarded by all but specialists as rather freakish musical occurrences, recent years have seen a growth of interest in the virtuoso violin repertory of the Baroque. Composers like Biber, Pisendel, and Tartini have all shown up with increasing frequency on concert programs and recordings.

Arie Antiche – a magical word for all who desire to enter into one of the most fascinating and powerful of musical traditions: the Italian bel canto, the realization of the artistic ideal of the natural beauty of the human voice in song. And who better to represent this ideal than Spanish soprano Maria Bayo. This, the first of Maria Bayo’s recordings for Claves Records, earned immediate recognition from critics, including receiving the «Vierteljahresliste des Deutschen Schallplattenpreises».