Francesco Maria Veracini

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.

F. A. Bonporti - Concertini e Serenate & F. M. Veracini - Sonate
Baroque | MP3 320 Kbps | 2 CD, covers, booklet | 226 MB RS
Nuova Era Records 1991

Surfing in Internet, by chance I have found the website of Luigi Mangiocavallo, a violinist who has been called to be part of Orchestra of 18th Century conducted by Frans Brüggen, of Capella Reial de Catalunya conducted by Jordi Savall, La Petit Band conducted by Sigiswald Kuijken and of the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra conducted by Ton Koopman, making tour in Europe, USA and Japan.

In 1989 and 1990, he recorded two sets of sonatas for violin and bass by Francesco Maria Veracini and Francesco Antonio Bonporti, with Claudio Ronco(Cello) and Marco Mencoboni(Harpsichord).
As records are no longer available to the public because not distributed on the market for a long time, they think about the value that performances may still have for many music lovers, therefore they decided to give the opportunity to listen to them. They keep the privilege to do so freely, without intermediaries, thanks to the web.

I have uploaded their 2 CD to RS, so the download is faster than from website of Mangiocavallo.

In my opinion, the trio's performance is the really very good.

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.

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.

Francesco Maria Veracini - Sonate accademiche, Op. 2
Classical, Baroque | 3 CDs | EAC | FLAC, CUE, LOG | Scans | 944 MB | Rapidshare
Recorded: 25-30 June 1993 | Released: 2007 [1995]| Label: Hyperion CDS44241/3 | TT: 175:42
The Locatelli Trio (Elizabeth Wallfisch - violin, Richard Tunnicliffe - cello, Paul Nicholson - harpsichord/organ)

No two Veracini sonatas are the same […] but every one is wildly inventive, intensely emotive, tremendously difficult, and, in these performances, brilliantly executed. Elizabeth Wallfisch is one of the great period violin players with an expressive tone and an awe-inspiring technique, and she takes on Veracini's most challenging double and triple stops without dropping a note. […] (James Leonard, All Music Guide)

He performances by the Locatelli Trio respond with spontaneity and expressive warmth to the wide-ranging effects, sometimes playful, at others sober and idiosyncratic of these fascinating pieces. Violinist Elizabeth Wallfisch articulates Veracini's melodic line with clarity and communicative charm …

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.