The playing of Adrian Chandler and his crack period-instrument band La Serenissima emulates the title of their eighth release for Avie, mining the treasures of Vivaldi’s vast output. Who are these Gods, Emperors and Angels in the title of the latest virtuoso vehicle for Adrian Chandler and his dazzling period-instrument band La Serenissima? Vivaldi was connected to many Highnesses on the European continent, foremost among them the widely cultured Holy Roman Emperor Charles IV to whom Vivaldi dedicated his set of concertos titled La Cetra, meaning “The Lyre,” hence likening the emperor to the lyre playing god Apollo.
The twenty sonatas on this recording show Handel writing for the professional musicians of his London opera orchestra; they demand considerable skill and stamina both from the soloist and the continuo. Prominent bass parts give the sonatas a contrapuntal strength and vitality, and Handel keeps the elements of display and purely musical argument in admirable balance in these works. For this reason, they are among the most attractive Baroque solo sonatas and deserve their lasting popularity.
Any eighteenth-century English gentleman wishing to signal his impeccable taste in music would often do so by referring to the works of Arcangelo Corelli, whose oeuvre was considered to be beyond reproach in matters of style and construction. The period saw an explosion of amateur musical societies all over the country. Gentlemen attending these societies could try their hand at fiddling and piping, and their meetings were usually enlivened by food, alcohol and tobacco. Between 1725 and 1750, over fifty clubs subscribed to Corelli reprints and publications.