Sammartini Sonate

This set of trio sonatas dates from 1727, the year before Sammartini moved to London where he became one of the leading composers in England until his death. Rooted in the late Baroque, these works show the composer's skilled contrapuntism and gift for lyricism and melody.

London Baroque offers another installment in its ongoing European Trio Sonata series, this time devoted to 18th-century Italy; as with the ensemble’s previous efforts the program features generally excellent performances of lesser-known repertoire. Ten years ago I reviewed a similar 18th-century Italian program by this same group titled “Stravaganze Napoletane”, also on BIS, and was generally impressed with the performances–except for one piece: Domenico Gallo’s Sonata No. 1 in G major.

During the summer of 1989, oboists Alfredo Bernardini and Paolo Grazzi together with bassoonist Alberto Grazzi founded Zefiro, a versatile ensemble specialized in 18th century music predominantly featuring wind instruments. Zefiro soon made a name for itself worldwide, and to celebrate its thirty years of activity Arcana is releasing an elegant 10-CD set of their complete recordings of baroque music. From the ensemble’s first disc (Sonatas by Zelenka - Grand Prix du Disque), the compilation alternates recordings of repertoire composers and pieces that have become absolute points of reference, such as the Vivaldi Bassoon Concertos, Handel’s Fireworks (Diapason d’or de l’année 2009) or the Bach Overtures (judged by Gramaphone to be one of the 50 best Bach recordings of all time).

The recorder played a huge part in 18th-century European music, so it’s strange that this beautiful instrument doesn’t command the attention it deserves today. Enter Dutch player Lucie Horsch with a Baroque feast of thrilling arrangements and wonderful, original works for recorder. Dive into the magical, virtuosic worlds of Castello, Naudot, and Sammartini—whose Concerto in F Majoris a sparkling discovery—and relive famous pieces that shine anew. The voice flute used for “Erbarme dich” from Bach’s St. Matthew Passion has a breathtaking vocal quality, while Horsch joins fellow recorder player Charlotte Barbour-Condini for a joyful, energizing performance of Handel’s “The Arrival of the Queen of Sheba.” Utterly inspiring.

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 recorders heyday was the early Baroque period. In fact, until the 18th Century the recorder was known simply as flauto (flute), while the instrument we today call the flute bore the specific name flauto traverso (transverse flute), a confusion in terminology that has often led to compositions addressed to the recorder (flauto) being performed on modern flute. Der Fluyten Lust-Hof by Jacob Van Eyck is the most extensive collection of music for a solo wind instrument by a single composer, and a large portion of this set is devoted to a selection of highlights from this monumental work. Although written for amateur players, the compositions attest to the high standard of musicianship in Utrecht, with technical demands that are challenging even by modern standards. The recorders tonal purity and exceptional blend in ensemble makes it marvelously suited for adaptations of music originally written for other instrumental combinations. Examples from the early Italian repertoire include the Palestrina ricercar, capriccios by Frescobaldi and canzonas by Gabrieli, Merula and Trabaci.

Manuscript number Mus. Ms. 31528 of the British Library, London, is a collection of 46 undated works for violoncello. Of these at least 30 are autograph works from Giuseppe Dall’Abaco (a mix of solo sonatas with basso continuo, 2 virtuoso cello duos, as well as 1 ‘Duetto’ of debatable provenance) including his unpublished „Op.1“ (XII Sonate | Per il Violoncello, e Basso | Del Sig. Giuseppe Barone | Dall’Abaco). The very high quality script, along with the appearance of bass figures at critical moments, strongly suggests that this set of pieces was in preparation for publication. The manuscripts of the remaining 18 sonatas are not so carefully prepared, including scribbled revisions, and are in need of some final corrections. Furthermore, the bass line appears almost entirely without figures, leaving ambiguity as to which instrument(s) would have made up the continuo section.