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Corelli - Trio Chamber Sonatas from Opere II and IV | Tactus TC650302

Corelli - Trio Chamber Sonatas from Opere II and IV

New Item

Label: Tactus

Cat No: TC650302

Barcode: 8007194100136

Format: CD

Number of Discs: 1

Genre: Chamber

Release Date: 1st August 2007

This product has now been deleted. Information is for reference only.

Contents

Artists

Ensemble ’Aurora’ (on original instruments)

Conductor

Enrico Gatti

Artists

Ensemble ’Aurora’ (on original instruments)

Conductor

Enrico Gatti

About

Arcangelo Corelli’s predilection for the chamber trio sonata, which he shared with most composers of the time, may be explained by his desire to write music for two high instruments of equal timbre and tessitura, in dialogue with each other at a considerable distance from the lowest voice. Corelli preferred the major mode to the minor, and this choice prevails in the sonatas. Nonetheless, his compositions are almost never immune to a sense of melancholy, for nearly all the adagios here are in a minor key.
 
The chamber sonatas op. 2 and 4 are normally divided into four movements: a slow prelude followed by 3 dance movements. However, certain sonatas have only three movements, either because the prelude is lacking or because there are only 2 dances. A characteristic of this time was a formal instability, whereby two or three slow movements are followed by two or three fast ones. Corelli frequently inserted imitative ideas into the dances, especially in op. 4. The tempos of these dances were not, however, always the traditional ones: alongside Allemande marked Allegro or Presto, there are slower ones marked Largo or Adagio. Likewise, there are Sarabande which bear the markings Vivace or Allegro.
 
The almost monodic style employed leads the first violin to dominate the second, even when the latter rises above the former in tessitura. Corelli’s style is considered to be an example of classical purity, admirably calculated and at times a bit academic. Yet one notes that he has eluded the anonymity so often found in the instrumental music of the seventeenth century.  
 
Ensemble 'Aurora': Enrico Gatti, Luigi Mangiocavallo, Roberto Gini, Luciano Contini, Guido Morini

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