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Reviewer: Lindsay Kemp
There are so many violin sonatas by Italian composers from the first half of the 18th century that mixed anthologies such as this can seem the most sensible way of giving them a chance. Focus here is provided by concentrating on some of the numerous Italian violinist-composers who made a living at one time or another in ever-receptive London. Starting with Nicola Matteis, who first dazzled English audiences in the 1670s, it ranges on through Geminiani, Visconti and Carbonelli (who as pupils of Corelli were bound to go down well in England), takes in Veracini and the leader of Handel’s opera orchestra Castrucci (both individuals thought by Englishmen at the time to have been at least a little mad), and ends with Giardini, brilliant leader of the orchestra at the King’s Theatre (and with Abel and JC Bach one of the apostles of the galant style in London). Matteis, Geminiani and Veracini are already moderately well represented in the catalogue, the others less so, and this disc claims six premiere recordings. With the exception of Geminiani’s Auld Bob Morrice, nothing here seems to have been touched by any particular kind of Britishness unless it be in an overall tendency towards elegance and restraint; what quirks there are are mild ones. All this finds a match in the playing of Simon Standage, a veteran of the beginnings of British period performance whose essentially delicate sound is nourished by easy bowing and sweet but unobtrusive vibrato. Showiness is not for him and he seems happier when letting this music’s clean lines speak for themselves, with just a little nurturing, than in passages of more extrovert or high-lying virtuosity, where a hint of discomfort sometimes creeps in. Friederike Chylek likewise eschews flashy continuo in favour of something more modestly functional, though her renderings of three Scarlatti sonatas are little pockets of controlled energy.
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