La Prima Stravaganza
Sonatas of 17th-century Italy from Capella Corelli: a window on instrumental music as it found its own voice, from the experimental works of Cima, Castello, Montalbano, Fontana, Frescobaldi, Marini and Uccellini through to Corelli.
Cynthia O'Brien violin
John O'Donnell harpsichord
Ruth Wilkinson viola da gamba, recorder
Giovanni Paolo Cima composer
Arcangelo Corelli composer
Giovanni Battista Fontana composer
Girolamo Frescobaldi composer
Biagio Marini composer
Bartolomeo Montalbano composer
Marco Uccellini composer
During the 17th century instrumental music was moving away from its supporting role in church and vocal music and establishing its independence as a genre. That shift coincided with a rise in instrumentalists’ skills, many of whom were also composers. Their works on this disc let us admire both musical imagination and performing craft.
The recording marks 21 years of Capella Corelli, one of Australia’s foremost Baroque chamber ensembles. The violin works of Arcangelo Corelli and his Italian predecessors were the group’s first inspiration. For its first decade it was based in Canberra. With harpsichordist and philosopher Paul Thom it built a reputation on rich repertoire and newly researched performance practice of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.
Tours followed across Australia and New Zealand, often with Musica Viva Australia, alongside workshops and teaching. From 1988, with harpsichordist and scholar John O’Donnell, Capella Corelli toured more often in Europe, especially Austria, where violinist Cynthia O’Brien was then based. La Prima Stravaganza was recorded just before the 1998 European tour in late July.
Reviews
The performances are lively and fresh, the sound quality excellent, and the end result very attractive.
... one of my favourite early music groups ... Excellent
Artist
Capella Corelli
Capella Corelli, one of Australia's foremost baroque chamber ensembles, was formed 21 years ago. The violin works of the great Italian virtuoso Arcangelo Corelli and of his Italian predecessors were the initial inspiration for the group.
Audio preview
Tracks
- i. Grave: Allegro 2:32
- ii. Allegro 2:21
- iii. Allegro :59
- iv. Adagio 2:42
- v. Allegro 1:32
- Concerti Ecclesiastici Sonata per il violino Giovanni Paolo Cima 4:16
- Sinfonie ad uno e doi violini iv. Sinfonia ‘Geloso’ Bartolomeo Montalbano 3:16
- Sonate A 1, 2, 3 per il violino o cornetto Sonata terza Giovanni Battista Fontana 4:36
- Toccate, Libro primo Cento partite sopra passacagli Girolamo Frescobaldi 11:33
- Sonate Concertante in stile moderno, Libro secondo Sonata prima a soprano solo Dario Castello 4:48
- Sonate over Canzoni da farsi à violino solo Sonata Op. 5 No. 8 Marco Uccellini 4:14
- Sonata prima Giovanni Battista Fontana 3:43
- Sonata seconda Dario Castello 5:23
- Sonata quarta Giovanni Battista Fontana 4:38
- Sonate, symphonie … e ritornelli Sonata per il violino per sonar con due corde Biagio Marini 6:50
- Sonata Op. 5 No. 12 ‘Follia’ Arcangelo Corelli 10:27
Sonata Op. 5 No. 1 Arcangelo Corelli
Performers
- Capella Corelli
- Ruth Wilkinson · viola da gamba, recorder
- John O'Donnell
- Cynthia O'Brien
Composers
Arcangelo Corelli
Arcangelo Corelli (1653–1713) was an Italian Baroque violinist and composer. His sonatas and concerti grossi helped establish the violin’s pre-eminence and fixed models of the sonata and concerto that spread across Europe.
Girolamo Frescobaldi
Girolamo Frescobaldi's keyboard music moves between flamboyant improvisatory toccatas and strict counterpoint, with sudden shifts of tempo and mood that still challenge performers. His canzonas, partitas and sacred organ works shaped Baroque keyboard writing for generations.
Dario Castello
Dario Castello’s Sonate concertate in stil moderno mark the shift from canzona to sonata: strict polyphony cuts against dramatic recitative over continuo, with stile concitato repeated notes and parts specified for violin, cornett, sackbut and dulcian.
Giovanni Paolo Cima
Giovanni Paolo Cima’s early seventeenth-century sonatas are among the first independent instrumental works of the Italian Baroque: single-movement, through-composed pieces for violin, cornett and continuo that join thematic integration with room for virtuoso display.
Marco Uccellini
Marco Uccellini wrote idiomatic Baroque sonatas and arias for solo violin and continuo: short contrasting sections that flow into one another, with virtuosic runs, leaps and writing that pushes the instrument into high positions.
Contributors
Cover designs
Simon Wright
Where to listen
La Prima Stravaganza is available for streaming through Apple Music. It can also be purchased through the iTunes Music Store.
La Prima Stravaganza is available as a CD. It can be purchased online through Buywell Music or the Australian Music Centre which both offer online ordering.
Product details
- Catalogue number
- MD 3208
- List price
- $25.00 AUD
- Total playing time
- 73 minutes 50 seconds
- Recording Engineer
- Martin Wright
Vaughan McAlley - Venue
- Move Records Studio
- Thanks to
- Stephen Freeman
- Credit
- Simon Wright
- Release date
- 1998
- Musical work
copyright - © 1998 Move Records
- Sound recording
copyright - ℗ 1998 Move Records
- Categories
- Classical, Early music
- Genres
- Baroque, Early Music
- Barcode
- EAN 9314574320824
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