Michala Petri, Hille Perl & Mahan Esfahani - Corellimania (2023) [Official Digital Download 24/192]

"As the progenitor of a style whose influence more or less came to define the in- strumental music of the High Baroque, Arcangelo Corelli (1653 - 1713) occupies a position in music history as unenviable as it is to his great credit. Just what made Corelli’s style seem strikingly novel to his contemporaries is a tricky question. To be sure, his standardization and popularization of certain formal tropes – most notably the succession of movement types in Sonate da Camera and Sonate da Chiesa – was a significant part of what his followers considered the ‘Corellian’ manner. But Corelli’s actual compositional style, his way of organizing musical thoughts into phrases and motives, is fundamentally derived from the expressive capabilities of his chosen instrument, the violin. Certain melodic patterns used to modulate and to effect sequences (e.g., chains of sevenths and fifths) basically derive from specificities of violin technique that amplify an instrument with origins primarily in dance music into one that in Corelli’s hands, could imitate the rise and fall of the sung and spoken human voice. This tension between idiomatically in- strumental techniques and the evocation of the voice is the defining characteristic of Corelli’s style throughout all his surviving works and would establish the “Roman School” as the supreme measure of musical taste for generations.

For this exploration of the 18th century’s Corelli Craze, the dynamic star trio of Mahan Esfahani, Hille Perl and Michala Petri unite to trace the Roman’s influence, (sometimes in name only…) on the musical legacies of Bach, Händel and Telemann, and of course two works from the pen of the celebrated Italian Master, himself.

Gramophone about the Petri/Perl/Esfahani Trio’s Bach recording: “While the tonal and expressive range of the recorder, viol and harpsichord may appear constrained in comparison to, say, flute, cello and piano, in the hands of foremost players such as these, even a relatively lightweight work such as the C major Sonata, BWV1033, comes over as the ideal demonstration of a particular facet of the composer’s style and the performers’ abilities.”

Tracklist:
01. Corelli: Trio Sonata in B Minor, Op. 3 No. 4 (Arr. for Recorder, Viola da gamba & Harpsichord by Anonymous): I. Largo
02. Corelli: Trio Sonata in B Minor, Op. 3 No. 4 (Arr. for Recorder, Viola da gamba & Harpsichord by Anonymous): II. Vivace
03. Corelli: Trio Sonata in B Minor, Op. 3 No. 4 (Arr. for Recorder, Viola da gamba & Harpsichord by Anonymous): III. Adagio
04. Corelli: Trio Sonata in B Minor, Op. 3 No. 4 (Arr. for Recorder, Viola da gamba & Harpsichord by Anonymous): IV. Presto
05. Bach: Fugue on a Theme by Corelli, BWV 579 (Arr. for Recorder, Viola da gamba & Harpsichord by Anonymous)
06. Handel: Recorder Sonata in D Minor, HWV 367a: I. Largo
07. Handel: Recorder Sonata in D Minor, HWV 367a: II. Vivace
08. Handel: Recorder Sonata in D Minor, HWV 367a: III. Furioso
09. Handel: Recorder Sonata in D Minor, HWV 367a: IV. Adagio
10. Handel: Recorder Sonata in D Minor, HWV 367a: V. Alla breve
11. Handel: Recorder Sonata in D Minor, HWV 367a: VI. Andante
12. Handel: Recorder Sonata in D Minor, HWV 367a: VII. A tempo di menuet
13. Handel: Harpsichord Suite No. 1 in B-Flat Major, HWV 434: I. Prelude
14. Handel: Harpsichord Suite No. 1 in B-Flat Major, HWV 434: II. Sonata
15. Handel: Harpsichord Suite No. 1 in B-Flat Major, HWV 434: III. Aria con variazioni
16. Handel: Harpsichord Suite No. 1 in B-Flat Major, HWV 434: IV. Minuet
17. Bach: Duetto No. 1 in E Minor, BWV 802 (Arr. for Recorder & Viola da gamba by Anonymous)
18. Bach: Duetto No. 2 in F Major, BWV 803 (Arr. for Recorder & Viola da gamba by Anonymous)
19. Bach: Duetto No. 3 in G Major, BWV 804 (Arr. for Recorder & Viola da gamba by Anonymous)
20. Bach: Duetto No. 4 in A Minor, BWV 805 (Arr. for Recorder & Viola da gamba by Anonymous)
21. Telemann: Trio Sonata No. 2 in A Major, TWV 42:A5: I. Largo
22. Telemann: Trio Sonata No. 2 in A Major, TWV 42:A5: II. Allemande
23. Telemann: Trio Sonata No. 2 in A Major, TWV 42:A5: III. Sarabanda
24. Telemann: Trio Sonata No. 2 in A Major, TWV 42:A5: IV. Corrente
25. Bach: Von Gott will ich nicht lassen, BWV 658 (Arr. for Recorder, Viola da gamba & Harpsichord by Anonymous)
26. Corelli: Violin Sonata in D Minor, Op. 5 No. 12 "La folia" (Arr. for Recorder, Viola da gamba & Harpsichord by Anonymous)


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