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GRAMOPHONE (02 /2014)
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Arcana
A369
Code-barres / Barcode : 3760195733691
Reviewer: David
Vickers
Not much is known
precisely about Giovanni Antonio Pandolfi Mealli (aka Domenico Pandolfi,
1629-?1687). He was born near Siena, raised in Venice, worked in Innsbruck for
some years and later in Messina, Madrid and Rome. His first two printed opuses
are lost, whereas the Op 3 violin sonatas published at Innsbruck in 1660 were
dedicated to Anna de’ Medici.
Violinist Gunar Letzbor has
already recorded Pandolfi’s Op 4 sonatas (Arcana, 2011), and his rhapsodic
playing is accompanied by a broad continuo group consisting of guitar, archlute,
keyboard (switching between harpsichord and organ), violone and colascione (a
long-necked southern Italian lute). The arsenal of five continuo instruments
yields furious flurries of scampering chords in the Adagios that flank La Cesta,
and yet there is sweetness and intimacy in slower movements notable for their
expressive melodic chromaticism (eg the second movement of La Melana or the
ciaconna at the heart of La Castella); these tend to be when fewer continuo
players are involved. Those who prefer the scale of just two instruments might
remain happier with the vibrant Gramophone Awardwinning set by Andrew Manze
accompanied by Richard Egarr only. Letzbor’s extrovert fantasy and Ars Antiqua
Austria’s richly textured playing should win some friends, and certainly
suggests how Pandolfi paved the way for Biber.
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