Tartini Violin Sonatas
View record and artist detailsRecord and Artist Details
Composer or Director: Giuseppe Tartini
Label: Hyperion
Magazine Review Date: 4/1992
Media Format: CD or Download
Media Runtime: 73
Mastering:
DDD
Catalogue Number: CDA66430

Tracks:
Composition | Artist Credit |
---|---|
(12) Sonatas and Pastorale for Violin, Movement: G minor (Didone abbandonata) |
Giuseppe Tartini, Composer
Giuseppe Tartini, Composer Locatelli Trio |
(12) Sonatas and Pastorale for Violin, Movement: F |
Giuseppe Tartini, Composer
Giuseppe Tartini, Composer Locatelli Trio |
(12) Sonatas and Pastorale for Violin, Movement: Pastorale in A |
Giuseppe Tartini, Composer
Giuseppe Tartini, Composer Locatelli Trio |
(12) Sonatas and Pastorale for Violin, Movement: C minor |
Giuseppe Tartini, Composer
Giuseppe Tartini, Composer Locatelli Trio |
Sonata for Violin and Continuo, 'Devil's Trill' |
Giuseppe Tartini, Composer
Giuseppe Tartini, Composer Locatelli Trio |
Author:
Known less by his music than by his reputation, the eighteenth-century Paduan violin virtuoso Giuseppe Tartini now competes with Pietro Locatelli for the patronage of the violinist Elizabeth Wallfisch. As a member of the Locatelli Trio, she has already recorded four sonatas on Hyperion by their namesake from his Op. 6 collection of 1737 (11/90) as well as the Op. 5 Sonatas of Corelli (3/91). For this disc she has chosen six works—four of them from one of the five different Tartini collections labelled Op. 1 identified by the booklet writer, Peter Holman.
The programme is framed by the best of the lot—the two G minor sonatas, known by their sobriquets as Didone abbandonata and Le trille du diable. To judge by these works, Tartini is at his best with galant tunes dressed in ornamental finery and unconventional little chromatic melodic twists which impart a quasi-gipsy character, particularly to the first movements. The A major scordatura Pastorale is made memorable by the rustic quality of the Allegro and the wonderfully eerie drones that end the work, though the success of both of these effects may be attributed in large part to the skill of the Trio as a whole.
Of Wallfisch's technique there is nothing to wish for; certainly the warmly resonant, ingratiating tone she produces would rival that of any modern instrument performer of her calibre. She seems very much at home weaving the myriad of unpretentious galant tunes into a reasonably coherent musical narrative, but much of Tartini's music—neither as stirring nor memorable as that of Corelli—requires a more colourfully seductive performance to succeed than, at least on this occasion, Wallfisch and her supportive companions have given us.'
The programme is framed by the best of the lot—the two G minor sonatas, known by their sobriquets as Didone abbandonata and Le trille du diable. To judge by these works, Tartini is at his best with galant tunes dressed in ornamental finery and unconventional little chromatic melodic twists which impart a quasi-gipsy character, particularly to the first movements. The A major scordatura Pastorale is made memorable by the rustic quality of the Allegro and the wonderfully eerie drones that end the work, though the success of both of these effects may be attributed in large part to the skill of the Trio as a whole.
Of Wallfisch's technique there is nothing to wish for; certainly the warmly resonant, ingratiating tone she produces would rival that of any modern instrument performer of her calibre. She seems very much at home weaving the myriad of unpretentious galant tunes into a reasonably coherent musical narrative, but much of Tartini's music—neither as stirring nor memorable as that of Corelli—requires a more colourfully seductive performance to succeed than, at least on this occasion, Wallfisch and her supportive companions have given us.'
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