Two Concertos For Organ

•This disc includes all of Wesley’s surviving symphonies. •The Symphony in D major ‘Sinfonia obligato’ (1781) is a premier recording

This VIVALDI/CORELLI/BEYER collection groups interpretations by Amandine Beyer and the ensemble Gli Incogniti of major works by two Italian composers: Vivaldi and Corelli. Here again, Amandine Beyer demonstrates her exceptional talent as both a violinist and ‘bandleader’, giving these works, which illustrate the art of the concerto at the beginning of the 18thcentury, a certain Italian vocal quality in a particularly felicitous and invigorating interpretation.

This is the 51st title in the Vivaldi Edition and the 6th volume, out of approximately 12, of the series dedicated to the violin concertos whose manuscripts are held in the National Library of Turin. Following two successful volumes of concertos for solo violin and orchestra recorded separately in the Vivaldi Edition, virtuosos Riccardo Minasi and Dmitry Sinkovsky now join forces to record pyrotechnic concertos for two violins and orchestra. This series of 6 concertos is an overview of the complete art of Vivaldi as a composer and violinist: large of musical scale, invention, expression, energy, and of course, virtuosity.

Vivaldi wrote almost no concertos for keyboard instruments, as Alessandro Borin tells us in his fine notes to this recording. There are just the six here, all with violin, and one more for harpsichord. Two of these also add oboe and optional chalumeau (RV 779) or cello (RV 554). The first thing to note about this recording is that it has some of Vivaldi’s most spirited and inventive music, ebulliently played.

In early 18th-century England, the recorder was a popular instrument among music lovers, therefore – since the eminent Italian composer Arcangelo Corelli’s works made an enormous impression in the country – it was only a matter of time before numerous virtuoso recorder arrangements of his string works began to appear. Estro Cromatico leader Marco Scorticati (recorder) and his longstanding partner Davide Pozzi (harpsichord and organ) join forces with Evangelina Mascardi (archlute), Sara Campobasso (recorder), Michela Gardini (cello) and Pietro Pasquini (organ), to deliver a new rendition of this well-loved music, including two premiere recordings.

The programme presented here proposes some of the most well-known works by Johann Sebastian Bach and Antonio Vivaldi in original transcriptions for mandolin orchestras. They are mostly concertos originally written for one or more violins accompanied by a string orchestra and basso continuo. In these transcriptions both the solo part and the orchestra have been replaced by mandolins. The resulting tone colors are quite peculiar and truly fascinating. The technical skill of the soloists, who often tackle lively, virtuosic tempos, and the elegance and good taste of the arrangements make of this album a unique experience.

When he died, Nicolaus Bruhns was just 31 years old, and only twelve of his vocal works and five organ compositions have survived. On the strength of these, he is nevertheless considered one of the most prominent North German composers of the generation between Buxtehude and Bach. Buxtehude was in fact Bruhns teacher, and thought so highly of him that recommended him for a position in Copenhagen. There he worked as a violin virtuoso and composer until 1689, when he returned to Northern Germany to become organist in the main church of Husum. It was here that most if not all of the extant works were performed.

It’s hard to imagine performances of Bach’s violin concertos like those of Nigel Kennedy or, now, these by Daniel Hope, passing muster two generations ago. But since then, Bach’s model, Vivaldi, has enjoyed a second rebirth through the midwifery of period instrumentalists who have sped up the tempos of his fast movements and shone light through the ingeniously transparent textures of his slow ones, all the while employing a wider range of colors than hitherto imagined.