Grazzi

The fame of the orphan girls playing music at the Venetian Ospedale della Pieta once resounded far beyond the lagoon city, and Vivaldi soon had to write his concerti not only for them. Copies of these concertos were long expensive and sought-after souvenirs for music lovers and court chapels from Venice. Soloists Michael Oman, Amandine Beyer as well as Alberto and Paolo Grazzi dedicate themselves here together with the Austrian Baroque Company to the very virtuosic repertoire of the solo concertos and soloistic Concerti da Camera by "Don Antonio Vivaldi".

Like many education-hungry sons of the European nobility, the 18-year-old Prince Frederick August II embarked on his Grand Tour, which took him from Saxony to Venice in 1716, where he spent almost a year. The large entourage that accompanied the young prince on this trip included such great musicians as the violinist Johann Georg Pisendel, the oboist Johann Christian Richter and the composer Jan Dismas Zelenka. In Venice, an intense exchange with local stars such as Vivaldi developed, in an atmosphere of friendship and competition. On his return to Dresden, August took with him, in addition to Lotti and Veracini, Heinichen, whom he had met in Venice and who became his Kapellmeister. After acclaimed recordings of orchestral works by Handel and Bach, Zefiro now discovers this fascinating repertoire of music by Italians who composed in the French style and Germans who wrote Venetian concertos to impress the prince.

These two CDs were originally recorded and released by naïve in the mid 1990s; recorded out of numerical order, sonatas 5, 6 and 2 are on the first disk, while 1, 3 (in which a violin replaces one of the oboes) and 4 are on the other. Both sets involve a theorbo and deep string bass (contrabbasso on CD1 and violone on CD2), all played by different players. The wind soloists are constant (and what a stellar line-up – Paolo Grazzi and Alfredo Bernardini on oboe and Alberto Grazzi on bassoon); Manfredo Kraemer is the violinist.

George Frideric Handel & Georg Philipp Telemann - Water Music
Ensemble Zefiro / Alfredo Bernardini
EAC+LOG+CUE | WV: 394 MB | Artwork | 5% Recovery Info
Label/Cat#: Ambroisie # AM192 | Country/Year: France 2009, 2003
Genre: Classical | Style: Baroque

"The versatile, highly acclaimed early music ensemble, Zefiro, present a beautiful programme exploring the influence of water and the elements upon both Handel and Telemann, reissued at a special price for the Handel 250th anniversary this year…" ~prestoclassical

Sometimes you just want to relax. Here is one of my favorite ways. These Divertimenti by Mozart weren't even written for listening; they served as background music for dinners and social events. But Mozart couldn't write empty music, and as undemanding as these pieces are, there is always something to reward your attention in every measure. This sextet of period instrument wind players has exactly the right touch for the music. They play with alertness to every detail and relaxation in expression. The result is one of the most delightful, blissfully undemanding CDs in the catalog.