Bach Dantone

Viktoria Mullova renews her partnership with long-term collaborator Ottavio Dantone in a programme of concertos for violin, offering not only the two famous concertos, but two concertos arranged for violin from the 2nd harpsichord concerto, and a concerto for violin and harpsichord which listeners may recognise from its violin and oboe guise – even this was arranged by Bach himself from the original for two harpsichords. Bach himself was a great re-user of material, and many concerto movements (including some from lost concertos) appeared in his cantatas. Mullova and Dantone have worked together for many years, both recording and in concert.

Viktoria Mullova and Ottavio Dantone turn in smashing performances of Bach's six sonatas for violin and harpsichord, plus two additional items: a transcription of Trio Sonata No. 5 (for organ/clavichord) and the Sonata in G for Violin and Continuo BWV 1021. Bach's violin sonatas use the "church sonata" form; that is, they usually have opening slow movements and no quick movements modeled on dance forms. They are also unique in that they are in fact true duets between the right hand of the keyboard player and the violin, rather than solo works in which the violin sings while the harpsichord accompanies with the continuo part.

“For intimacy and brio, there’s Ottavio Dantone and the five musicians of Accademia Bizantina… Poised in the Siciliano of the E major concerto, merry in the Allegro of the A major, strikingly confident in the whirlwind Presto of the F minor and dazzling in the Italianate Adagio of the D minor, the ensemble is faultless” The Independent on Bach Harpsichord Concertos. This is the second disc in the new L’Oiseau Lyre partnership with Accademia Bizantina and Ottavio Dantone; it promises to be a stunning contribution to commemorate the Handel celebrations in 2009.

Listening to this disc will certainly blow the cobwebs away. On second thoughts, the experience could more accurately be described as blasting the cobwebs away. Superbly performed interpretations breathe life and a sense of adventure into this music that ranges from late Baroque to the Classical period.

Second only to J.S. Bach, Antonio Vivaldi is perhaps the most well-known and widely enjoyed composer of the Baroque era. Here, the world-renowned Accademia Bizantina plays Vivaldi's 12 Concertos, which include his most famous work, 'The Four Seasons.' Conducted by the passionate maestro Ottavio Dantone–who also joins on harpsichord–these pieces sounds rich and dramatic.

Bach's six sonatas for violin and keyboard, written at the Cöthen court where the composer was responsible for instrumental music, are sometimes cited as historical firsts – as the first violin-and-keyboard sonatas to cast the two instruments in equal roles. The designation is a little misleading, for the works had few real successors; it took more than 50 years before violin and keyboard once again took the stage as equals. Their equality in this set is not really a stylistic innovation but rather the result of Bach's tendency to think exhaustively in terms of the potentialities of his instruments. Be that as it may, one must approach a recording of the set with ears open to the contributions of both instrumentalists and how they work together.

Claudio Abbado isn't a name one associates with early music, in light of his impressive career conducting the masterworks of the Romantic and modern eras. Indeed, he didn't conduct any music by J.S. Bach with the Berlin Philharmonic until as late as 1994. Yet when he's leading the talented Orchestra Mozart of Bologna in Bach's Brandenburg Concertos, his ease with the music and his players is obvious, and the performances have almost as much Baroque style as many versions by period ensembles of greater longevity. Abbado led this ensemble in all six Brandenburgs in 2007 at the Teatro Municipale Romolo Valli in Reggio Emilio, and the live performances were recorded by Deutsche Grammophon with close attention to details, as befits chamber music.

In November 2004 a new name caused listeners to prick up their ears on the international orchestral scene: under Claudio Abbado’s artistic guidance the Orchestra Mozart came into being. It combines both young instrumentalists on the threshold of a first-rate career as well as eminent chamber musicians such as Danusha Waskiewicz, Alois Posch, Jacques Zoon, Michaela Petri, Ottavio Dantone, Mario Brunello, Alessio Allegrini, Jonathan Williams and Reinhold Friedrich. As with his famous Lucerne Festival Orchestra, Abbado hand-picked an ensemble to his liking, this time one of early- and Baroque-music specialists, all masters in their field.

Violinist Viktoria Mullova made two great decisions before she made this record. First, she decided to record not only Bach's canonical six sonatas for violin and harpsichord, but also his Sonata in G major for violin and continuo and his Trio Sonata in C major for violin and continuo…

Dantone interpretation is easily one of the best I have heard in recent years, and I consider it among the elite harpsichord recordings of the Goldbergs in the catalogs. His interpretations feature a compelling mix of power/energy, rhythmic lift, sharply etched phrasing, poignant refrains, playful episodes, bleak terrains and totally satisfying conversations from Bach's contrapuntal musical lines. I think it is fair to say that Dantone gives us the full measure of Bach's soundworld in excellent sonics that are crisp as well as well as abundantly rich.