New CD Album " More than a dull ripieno!" Baroque Sonatas for Viola
A concert program that aims to fill a gap in the viola repertoire and “establish a higher Veneration and Taste for this excellent, tho' too much neglected instrument.” *
(*William Flackton, Introduction to the "Six Solo", 1770)
Works being performed: Sonatas by Johann Gottlieb Graun (1702/03–1771), Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach (1714–1788), Johann Gottlieb Janitsch (1708–1762/63), Felice Giardini (1716–1796), William Flackton (1709–1798).
It is true that the viola was often considered a second-rate instrument, useful but for a dull ripieno* in the orchestra and not apt for soloistic displays. Memorable are, in fact, the lines that Johann Joachim Quantz dedicates it in the famous treatise On Playing the Flute (1752):
The viola is commonly regarded as of little importance in the musical establishment. The reason may well be that is often played by persons who are either still beginners in the ensemble or have no particular gifts [...] or that the instrument yields all too few advantages to its players.
Nonetheless, other important composers of the Late Baroque and Early Classical eras were willing to explore and further develop the possibilities of the viola, an instrument equipped with various timbral and sonic nuances. To do so, they experimented with different chamber music combinations.
This Concert program include Solo Sonatas and Trios (for viola, cello and fortepiano/harpsichord) chosen to provide a detailed fresco of the variety of styles developed in Europe during the transition from the Baroque era: i.e. galant style, Berliner empfindsamer Stil , new Mannheim and Viennese styles.
All the pieces are performed with extreme care for the historical performance practices and on instruments scrupulously selected to provide a sound most possible similar to the “original”. For this occasion, I chose two accurate copies of historical fortepianos, a Johann Gottfried Silbermann owned by Frederick the Great and a Bartolomeo Cristofori (inventor of the fortepiano), and a viola in a classical setup. One of the pieces is here presented as a World Premiere recording.