Minasi

With Beethoven’s Piano Concertos no. 4 and op. 61a, the latter being the composer’s own transcription of his Violin Concerto, Gianluca Cascioli, Riccardo Minasi and Ensemble Resonanz present two milestones of the piano literature. Basing their interpretation on intensive source research in the archives of the Vienna Musikverein and on handwritten notes by Beethoven, the performers suggest an alternative, more varied and virtuosic version of the piano part in Concerto no. 4.

When Joanna Loved Me (1974). A compelling little record from guitarist Dom Minasi - a player we only know from these few Blue Note albums cut right toward's the label's initial run - sweet albums that might have pushed Dom further, had they gotten better exposure! Minasi's a pretty talented guitarist - with a style that's somewhere between the quirkiness of Sonny Greenwich, and the smooth sound of Earl Klugh - and while the style here might show some of the elements of Klugh's initial work for Blue Note, the overall presentation is a lot more stripped down - never too smooth, and with plenty of focus on the jazz elements in Dom's music…

Here is something unusual among the growing number of recordings of Heinrich von Biber's Rosary Sonatas; in Arts two-disc SACD set featuring violinist Riccardo Minasi and Bizzarrie Armoniche, Biber's set of 15 Sonatas realized with a full, Italian style continuo and Italian violin ornamentation. The accepted standard, for decades, was continuo realization with organ alone, and eventually the notion of a cello or theorbo joining the band gained acceptance.

The "Serenissima" referred to in the title of this release is the Republic of Venice itself, La Serenissima Repubblica di Venezia, as it was known in Vivaldi's time and would be until its fall early in the Napoleonic era. Croatian countertenor Max Emanual Cencic gets some nice shots in the graphics, but no biographical information about either him or the curiously named orchestra Il Pomo d'oro under Riccardo Minasi is included. Instead, the intent seems to be to present some lesser-known Venetian operas from during and slightly before Vivaldi…

With this release, France's Naïve label continues its series of complete recordings of a set of rediscovered Vivaldi manuscripts housed at the National Library of Turin in Italy. Naïve is not usually given to this kind of completist enterprise, but each of these albums has been at least interesting, and some of them seem likely to permanently remake the general Vivaldi repertory as the works played seep into it. This album belongs to the latter group.

There can’t be many ensembles around as stylistically fleet-footed as Hamburg’s Ensemble Resonanz. I’m still thinking fondly back to their Haas, Bartók and Berg programme on the Elbphilharmonie’s opening weekend; and now here they are playing historically informed CPE Bach with equal musical sensitivity and intellectual panache, joined by their artist-in-residence Riccardo Minasi (himself a period-performance chameleon) and their other regular collaborator, Jean-Guihen Queyras.