Platti Concerti grossi after Corelli
An Italian court musician in Germany presents Corelli in a fascinating light
View record and artist detailsRecord and Artist Details
Composer or Director: Giovanni Benedetto Platti
Genre:
Orchestral
Label: Harmonia Mundi
Magazine Review Date: 3/2009
Media Format: CD or Download
Media Runtime: 53
Mastering:
Stereo
DDD
Catalogue Number: HMC901996
Tracks:
Composition | Artist Credit |
---|---|
Concerti grossi after Corelli's Op 5, Movement: In F |
Giovanni Benedetto Platti, Composer
Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin Georg Kallweit, Violin Giovanni Benedetto Platti, Composer |
Concerto con Violoncello obligato |
Giovanni Benedetto Platti, Composer
Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin Georg Kallweit, Violin Giovanni Benedetto Platti, Composer Sebastian Hess, Cello |
Concerto 'per Oboé' |
Giovanni Benedetto Platti, Composer
Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin Georg Kallweit, Violin Giovanni Benedetto Platti, Composer Xenia Löffler, Oboe |
Concerti grossi after Corelli's Op 5, Movement: In G minor |
Giovanni Benedetto Platti, Composer
Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin Georg Kallweit, Violin Giovanni Benedetto Platti, Composer |
Author: Richard Lawrence
This brother was an amateur cellist, for whom the concerto recorded here was presumably written. It’s not particularly interesting but it enables Sebastian Hess to show off fleet fingerwork in the Allegros and singing tone in the central Adagio. Platti himself was a virtuoso oboist: the D minor Largo of his Concerto, tender and melancholy, more than makes up for the rather formulaic cast of the outer movements. Xenia Löffler produces beautifully rounded tone, more Maurice Bourgue than Heinz Holliger.
The main interest of the disc, though, is the adaptation of three sonatas from Corelli’s Op 5 set of 1700. It’s fascinating to hear what Platti does to the original. In the Preludio of No 10 in F, for instance, he adds a second violin part that weaves above and below Corelli’s treble line, sometimes in imitation; elsewhere, he will transpose the bass to create a passage for two violins.
The oddity is No 4, also in F. The booklet coyly refers to “a further, recent alteration” to the scoring, meaning the addition of woodwind and horns. In the second movement, the bassoons bubble away appealingly in thirds, as in Handel’s Op 3 No 1; but in the Gavotta, the horns reach up to an unbelievable – and unappealing – top A. Rum! Good performances, otherwise.
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