12 Fantasias for Violin Solo. Maurice Clare Rediscovered

Description

During the COVID-19 lockdowns, Nimbus Records unearthed long-forgotten treasures from its archives. More than 50 recordings are now being released gradually. Some date back to the label’s founding in the late 1960s. The original analog tapes, generally four-track one-inch tapes (30 ips), were easily digitized. We decided to archive them at 192 kHz in order to preserve them for future generations. The first digital tapes from 1981/82, made on U-Matic cassettes, sometimes required edits to restore missing signal passages, but, having been kept in the same warm, dark room since their creation, they were, on the whole, successfully digitized. As for this album in particular, it is unknown how and why violinist Maurice Clare came to the Nimbus studio in Birmingham, or why the music of Georg Philipp Telemann was chosen as the repertoire. The 1974 recordings indicate that Fantasias Nos. 1 to 5 were recorded on Monday, August 26, Fantasias Nos. 7 to 12 on Tuesday, August 27, followed by a day with no recording. Fantasy No. 6 was recorded on Thursday, August 29, 1974. Scribbled notes on the last page hint at future projects: 24 sonatas by Tartini, quartets and quintets by Boccherini with a “very, very good student” on second violin and “Amo” (Fleming) on cello. Unfortunately, these projects never came to fruition.