Corelli reviews

The best recordings of Corelli's Concerti Grossi

Kate Bolton-Porciatti admires Arcangelo Corelli's fine craftsmanship and winning elegance as she selects the best recording of his Concerti grossi
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London circa 1720 – Corelli's Legacy

La Rêveuse/Benjamin Perrot and Florence Bolton (Harmonia Mundi)
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Portrait of a Lady with Harp
: Music for the Queen of Sweden

Mara Galassi (Glossa)
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Corelli: Concerti grossi, Op. 6/4, 8 & 9; Violin Sonatas, Op. 5/4 & 7

Marco Scorticati & Estro Cromatico (Arcana)
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Les Défis de Monsieur Forqueray

Lucile Boulanger, Claire Gautrot, Romain Falik & Pierre Gallon (Harmonia Mundi)
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A Courtly Garland for Baroque Trumpet

Robert Farley; Orpheus Britannicus/Andrew Arthur (Resonus)
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Corelli

A decade after Corelli’s Op. 5 Violin Sonatas were introduced to England, writer and musician Roger North observed, ‘It is wonderful what a scratching of Corelli there is everywhere – nothing will relish but Corelli’. The set represented the defining moment of the early Baroque violin sonatas, and it wasn’t just violinists doing the relishing. Recorder transcriptions abounded, and Michala Petri addresses the ‘sonata da camera’ leg of Op. 5 in the company of a harpsichordist fast turning into a serial and lively collaborator: Mahan Esfahani.

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Corelli

Six Sonatas, Op. 5 Nos 7-12
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Corelli

The Avison Ensemble began their complete Corelli series in 2012 with the celebrated Concerti Grossi Op. 6, before turning their sights to the earlier, and more intimate, violin and trio sonatas. This two-disc set, comprising the Trio Sonatas Opp. 1 and 3, brings the cycle to a close. Both collections, dating from the 1680s, consist of so-called ‘church sonatas’ (sonate da chiesa) – the term something of a misnomer since they seem not to have been played in church, though their muted serenity would have been a fine complement to private devotion.

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Corelli

Church Sonatas, Opp. 1 & 3
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Corelli: Chamber Sonatas, Opp. 2 & 4

 

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Corelli Violin Sonatas, Op. 5

 

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Corelli Concerto Grossi, Op. 6

 

This is the first in a projected series of Corelli recordings by the Avison Ensemble marking the 300th anniversary of the composer’s death, and what better way to begin than with the iconic Op. 6 Concerti Grossi. Celebrated and emulated across Europe (not least by Handel, who pays homage in his own Op. 6 collection), the centrepiece of the set is the so-called Christmas Concerto – a musical tableau evoking the Nativity, complete with piping shepherds.

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Rachmaninov: Variations on a Theme of Corelli

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Corelli and Bach, Holst, Tippett: Works by Tippett, Holst, Corelli and Bach

This disc is rewarding, above all because it places one of Tippett’s most approachable works, the Fantasia Concertante on a Theme of Corelli of 1953, firmly in the Baroque context within which it was conceived, as a tribute to the great Roman composer’s tercentenary. Hence Corelli’s vibrant opening Concerto Grosso in F, Op. 6/2 and the charmingly played Trio Sonata in B minor from the third 1680s set (Op. 3/4), whose Vivace – which plays a key role in the Tippett – was also reworked by Bach as the short organ fugue in B minor.

 

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Rachmaninov: Etudes-Tableaux, Op. 39; Corelli Variations; 6 Poems, Op. 38

A relatively hidden light among the more philosophically-minded of younger Russian pianists, Melnikov shows unerring judgment in programming and execution. As I stated both on the Building a Library broadcast and in the summary on p56, I find his interpretation of the Op. 39 Etudes-Tableaux every bit as compelling as Rustem Hayroudinoff’s. Tellingly, both pianists expound eloquently in their booklet notes though Melnikov’s depth and breadth possibly go a little further than Rachmaninov the pianist would have warranted.

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Borodin, Schubert, Tchaikovsky, Beethoven, Weber, Falla, Corelli, J Strauss & Dvor‡k

Recorded at around the same time, Erich Kleiber shows how a conductor from the European tradition could soften the sharp edges of the NBC SO. The first movement of the Borodin Second Symphony may be fast, but it has a rounder sound than Toscanini would have encouraged; and there’s real affection in the slow movement, as there is in the Corelli Christmas Concerto. Schubert’s Fifth Symphony has a Viennese warmth, which is even more intense in Johann Strauss’s Tales from the Vienna Woods; and Beethoven’s Eroica shows how rubato and phrasing can operate at speed.
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Rachmaninov: Variations on a Theme of Corelli; transcriptions

Solid, key-deep fingerwork and a penetrating, steel-edged sonority are prerequisites for playing Rachmaninov, and also charactise Olga Kern’s considerable pianism. Her musical ideas, however, don’t always allow this composer to sing out fully and take wing. In the main she views the Corelli Variations as separate, seemingly unrelated pieces, rather than linking them through carefully considered tempo relationships, as Vladimir Ashkenazy does to more cumulative effect. The climactic variations, moreover, become strident and slightly monochrome in their loudest moments.
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Rachmaninov: Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini; Variations on a Theme of Corelli; Variations on a Theme of Chopin

You have to read the very small print on the cover to realise that the Rachmaninov works on offer here are his three sets of variations; ‘Lugansky’ in large typeface overshadows all else. Not that this turns out be anything like an exercise in virtuosic ego; Lugansky is so rigorously – some still maintain coolly – in control of his formidable technique that the music always comes first. He even ends up playing second fiddle at times to the amazing bite and precision of Oramo and the CBSO in the Paganini Rhapsody.
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Corelli: Concerti grossi, Op. 6/4, 8 (Christmas Concerto), 11 & 12; Sonata a quattro in G minor; Fuga a quattro voci

When it came to his orchestral music, size mattered for Corelli and there are contemporary accounts of performances he directed involving more than a hundred musicians. Today there are recordings of his celebrated Op. 6 to suit all tastes – from the intimate, one-to-a-part account of the Christmas Concerto by London Baroque (BIS) to grandiose performances on modern instruments by I Musici (Philips). These accounts by the New Dutch Academy – a big band playing on period instruments – reflect the best of both worlds.
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Rachmaninov, Corelli, Beethoven, Mendelssohn & Chopin

John Lill's project to record all of Rachmaninov's solo piano music has taken him to the Moments musicaux and the First Piano Sonata, unfortunately some of the least attractive areas of Rachmaninov's piano oeuvre. The Sonata is a huge ungainly rambling thing whose pleasures are few and far between. Lill attacks it with characteristic rhythmic strength, a keen sense of focus and great propulsive energy — but despite all his well-directioned efforts the piece remains a bit of a chore.
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Corelli, Geminlani, Manfredini, Albinoni, Torelli, Locatelli

This disc traces the development of the Baroque concerto grosso from the late 16th-century instrumental music of Giovanni Gabrieli to the work of Corelli (including the Christmas Concerto) and his followers. Marriner and the ASMF make a stylish and instructive case for this often neglected music, though some may find the playing almost too polished. William Humphreys-Jones
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Corelli: Trio Sonatas, Op. 1

The 350th anniversary of Corelli’s birth has so far been modestly celebrated with token appearances of his music in concert schedules and on disc. Hardly surprising, perhaps, since his oeuvre contains no vocal music and his output, by comparison with Legrenzi, Albinoni, Vivaldi et al, is very slender. But we should be very mistaken in thinking that quantity is in any sense commensurate with quality for, in terms of influence and intrinsic merit, Corelli’s music was a potent force both in his native Italy and throughout most of Europe.
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Corelli: Violin Sonatas, Op. 5

On the face of it, nothing could be simpler than these 12 sonatas from 1700 – two bare lines, solo violin and bass. But questions arise even from the title, for ‘Violino e [and] Violone o [or] Cimbalo’. Trio Veracini (Novalis) interprets this as violin either with cello playing both bass line and in-filling harmony, or with harpsichord. My previous benchmark, the Locatelli Trio (Hyperion), uses both cello and keyboard, with organ for the first six sonatas, recognising their church sonata roots, and harpsichord thereafter.
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