6 Concertos pour violon Brussels 1734

Description

The concertos recorded here are clearly Italian in style and often remind one of 'The Four Seasons of Vivaldi'.
This collection of concertos was long considered lost, so much so that its existence was questioned several times. But it was ultimately found in its entirety within the music and theater library of Stockholm. Another copy also exists in Regensburg, in very poor condition and incomplete.
The concertos on this disc are decidedly in the Italian style. They regularly evoke the violin concertos Quattro Stagioni by Antonio Vivaldi. If we examine the orchestration of De Croes' concertos, one could qualify them as "concerti grossi." In fact, it is under this name that they appear in the RISM (International Inventory of Musical Sources). However, the term is not entirely appropriate. In a concerto grosso, the two solo violins are practically on equal footing alongside two accompanying violins. De Croes strongly deviates from this framework, as the first solo violin does most of the work while the second solo violin makes a very limited contribution. Thus, the concertos have more of the structure of a violin concerto than a concerto grosso. De Croes also plays with the distribution of roles among the different violin parts. In the first concerto, the second ripieno violin is given a more significant role than its colleague, the first violin.
By unveiling and recording the violin concertos of De Croes, we hope to help give them a prominent place in today's repertoire. They truly deserve it.