Channel Classics - SACD Hybrid Stereo / Multichannel
The unusual and amusing liner notes by Mark Seow take the form of an imaginary party in heaven that takes place on the anniversary of Corelli's birthday at which the four composers represented here reminisce about events in their lives and toast their esteemed senior colleague.The recording took place in the fine acoustic of St. Jude's-on-the-Hill, Hampstead, London in September 2016 - a venue very familiar to Jared Sacks and the Channel Classics team. It will therefore come as no surprise to discover that the sound on this DSD possesses the remarkable vividness, warmth and realism that one has come to expect from every Channel Classics release on SACD. The typically incomparable level of artistry and technical excellence Rachel Podger and her Brecon Baroque colleagues brings to each of these sonatas ensure that this SACD warrants the highest recommendation. 5/5 HRAUDIO
Her playing is intoxicated and intoxicating in equal measure, buoyed up by the wonderful improvisatory camaraderie of a continuo battery…Podger, inevitably, is the star, but ultimately the disc’s... — 5/5 BBC Music Magazine
This CD brings together the compositions by four violinist-composers.
United by a reverence for Arcangelo Corelli (1653-1713), and in particular his Opus 5, these works explore the imagination of form that was the Sonata for violin and continuo.
Weaving together stylised dances and the preludic tradition, we are transported to a world of musical alchemy - the violinist creating ex nihilo textures and melodies that entrance and amaze.
Rachel Podger: “The four composers’ connections read like a popular comedy! Violin virtuosos Francesco Maria Verachini andJohann Georg Pisendel had an argument which resulted in Veracini flying into a rage and throwing himself from first floor a balcony, damaging his foot and limping forever after. Verachini amazed Giuseppe Tartini with his astonishingly smooth bowing technique, whereupon Tartini locked himself away to practice. Pisendel studied with Tartini and Antonio Vivaldi...”
Pisendel: Sonata for Violin and harpsichord in C
Tartini: Sonata for Violin and continuo in A minor, Op. 2 No. 5
Veracini: Sonata for violin and continuo in G minor, Op. 2 No. 5, Sonata accademica in D minor, Op. 2 No. 12
Vivaldi: Violin Sonata, Op. 2 No. 2 in A major, RV 31
