Corelli Gatti

The rich, beautiful violin tone, and unhurried yet thoughtful tempi of Enrico Gatti have been heard often in the music of Arcangelo Corelli. For Glossa he has now recorded the “Assisi” Sonatas for violin, 12 Sonate da camera à violino e violoncello solo, which it is believed that Corelli wrote prior to committing his Op 1 Trio Sonatas for publication in 1681, and quite possibly when the composer was still in Bologna.

During his lifetime, Arcangelo Corelli was considered the greatest living composer; his name was known throughout Europe, and his works held up as models by his peers. Corelli’s Op. 3 (12 sonatas for two violins and continuo) – and seven similar but seldom-heard, posthumous sonatas – are performed here by Enrico Gatti, the most authoritative Corelli interpreter.

The appointment in 1689 of Pietro Ottoboni as Cardinal of San Lorenzo in Damaso marked the beginning of one of the most splendid epochs of patronage of the arts in Rome. A passionate lover of music, Ottoboni gave his protection to numerous musicians: Handel, Pasquini, Scarlatti and Caldara all at some point worked at the cardinal’s court. A few months after his election, Ottoboni took into his service the famous violinist Arcangelo Corelli, who was employed not only as first violin and leader for the instrumental music, but had complete control also over the sumptuous musical events.

The re-release of The English Concert’s award-winning recording of Corelli’s Op 6 concertos offers a welcome opportunity to reflect on some of the changes in taste that have emerged since 1989. Two competing recordings, by groups led by Italians – that of Ensemble 415 and Europa Galante – oblige with two quite different approaches to this most quintessential of Baroque music.

Alessandro Stradella was one of the most important Italian composers of the seventeenth century. This recording presents the only two cantatas Stradella composed for Christmas, preceded by the instrumental Sonata di Viole, the earliest entirely instrumental works (i.e., unconnected to a vocal source) for the concertino-concerto grosso ensemble in the history of the genre.

Italian violinist Enrico Gatti has made various recordings of the late Baroque violin repertory with Ensemble 415 and other groups, and his booklet notes, as encrusted with decorations as the music itself, are always part of the attraction. Here he holds forth, in English, French, and German translations of the original Italian, on Giuseppe Tartini's life and career, heading his reflections with an Emily Dickinson poem (unfortunately somewhat less effective in German) and diverging into such avenues as an attack on daily newspaper journalism as it pertains to Baroque music.

Ensemble 415 is a chamber ensemble devoted largely to the performance of Baroque music on period instruments. The numerical reference in the group's name derives from the pitch used for tuning instruments in the Baroque era. In performing chamber music, Ensemble 415 consists of just a few players, but for larger compositions, the number expands to a minimum of 13 and can reach up to as high as 40 performers. The ensemble's repertory has been broad over the years, taking in many Baroque standards by J.S. Bach, Vivaldi, and Handel, as well as lesser known fare by Muffat and others.

The Japanese company, BMG Japan, sorted the original RCA RED SEAL CDs according to the composers and the year when the music pieces were created. BEST100 series are the best representative CDs, which were carefully chosen from those music pieces by acting and recording, and they were released again with the mark of RCA BEST100. These CDs are the most impressive records in the classical field at RCA’s best. Theoretically, we could find the single originals of those CDs, but BMG Japan reorganised excellently for everyone. During BMG Japan period, it was released for the first time in 1999 and for the second time in 2008 after SONY took over BMG. BEST100 series belong to the latter.

Leonardo Leo (1694-1744) was a Neapolitan composer whom academics have sometimes pushed as the missing link between Pergolesi and the full flowering of the early Classical style. Niccolò Jommelli and Gluck Piccinni were among his students, and his own operas feature smooth, lightly accompanied arias that do seem to look forward to the spirit of Gluck and even Mozart. Several recordings of the early 2000s have unearthed his almost-forgotten instrumental music, with liner notes chiding listeners (in the words of the present disc) "so entirely enamored with Vivaldi…that they have ignored music derived from other circles or styles."