Sonates italiennes pour violon

Description

A unique collection of Italian violin sonatas from the 19th and 20th centuries in elegant, vernacular, and modern studio recordings.Brilliant Classics thoroughly explores the chamber music traditions of France and Italy in box sets dedicated to violin and cello sonatas by famous and lesser-known composers. When composing violin sonatas in the 19th and 20th centuries, Italian composers naturally drew on an unprecedented heritage of compositions for violin, dating back not only to Paganini but also to virtuoso violinists of the Baroque era such as Corelli and Geminiani.Towards the mid-19th century, however, the sonata for two instruments became associated with forms and styles developed in Germany and Austria, particularly in the generations following Beethoven. Italian composers attempted to balance these influences in their own composition; they sought to demonstrate a fusion of Italian cantabile violin compositions with large-scale formal ambitions borrowed from Germany.The composers in this series all achieved such a fusion in their own style. A phenomenal virtuoso, Antonio Bazzini wrote primarily with performance in mind, but his sonata is elegantly constructed along classical lines.Ferruccio Busoni had already settled in Germany when he wrote his essential second sonata, but the wild spirit of the Tarantella still permeates his Scherzo. He and Respighi both drew inspiration from Bach and the Baroque period as a source for a new neoclassical spirit. Meanwhile, other composers like Wolf-Ferrari and Pilati wrote long narratives in the style of Brahms. Even into the 20th century, Brahms remained the model for chamber music composers like Sinigaglia and Bartolucci, who rejected modernist fragmentation.The rich chromaticism of César Franck had its own appeal for composers like Margola, who were more open to Wagnerian innovations. A Parisian influence is felt in several composers such as Esposito and Santoliquido. Finally, a more complex approach to harmony in the style of Bartók's violin compositions brings the sonatas of Castelnuovo-Tedesco and Riccardo Malipiero up to date.All these recordings come from previous Brilliant Classics albums, praised for the finesse of their technique and interpretation. Compiled in this box set, with a new essay by Peter Quantrill, they tell a lively and fascinating story of the development of the Italian violin sonata over a century and more.