Sonates pour violoncelle

Description

The inspired decision of cellist and composer Giovanni Sollima to delve into the research of the instrumental music of his colleague and namesake from the 18th century, Giovanni Battista Costanzi, produces here its first fruit: a Glossa recording of part of his sonatas for cello. If the name of Costanzi seems to have disappeared from the history of the cello, his pieces nevertheless testify to an everlasting freshness in the treatment of the late Baroque sonata promoted by Arcangelo Corelli. The technical demands - especially in the high register - go hand in hand with a rigorous use of all the expressive resources of the instrument. This disc, including five of his sonatas for cello and continuo, is the first recording dedicated to this facet of the Roman composer. Giovanni Sollima includes here one of his compositions, Il mandataro, which reflects the more or less wandering path of the courier tasked with reminding the instrumentalists of their obligations, an apparently marginal character of the Roman court at the time of the munificent Cardinal Ottoboni, patron of Costanzi. Sollima, who had already recorded a series of Neapolitan concertos with Antonio Florio and I Turchini for Glossa, is now accompanied by cellist Monika Leskovar (in two sonatas for two cellos) and the Arianna Art Ensemble. The notes of musicologist Imma Battista complete this splendid disc by providing biographical data that allow us to approach this hitherto forgotten Baroque composer.