Track Listing

1. Sonata for violin & continuo in G minor, Op. 1/1: Overtura. Largo - Allegro
2. Sonata for violin & continuo in G minor, Op. 1/1: Aria. Affetuoso
3. Sonata for violin & continuo in G minor, Op. 1/1: Paesana. Allegro
4. Sonata for violin & continuo in G minor, Op. 1/1: Minuet. Allegro
5. Sonata for violin & continuo in G minor, Op. 1/1: Giga "Postiglione". Allegro
6. Sonata for violin or recorder & continuo No. 5 in C major: Largo
7. Sonata for violin or recorder & continuo No. 5 in C major: Allegro
8. Sonata for violin or recorder & continuo No. 5 in C major: Largo
9. Sonata for violin or recorder & continuo No. 5 in C major: Allegro
10. Sonata for violin & continuo No. 1 in D major (from Dissertazioni sopra l'opera Quinta del Corelli): Grave - Allegro
11. Sonata for violin & continuo No. 1 in D major (from Dissertazioni sopra l'opera Quinta del Corelli): Allegro
12. Sonata for violin & continuo No. 1 in D major (from Dissertazioni sopra l'opera Quinta del Corelli): Allegro
13. Sonata for violin & continuo No. 1 in D major (from Dissertazioni sopra l'opera Quinta del Corelli): Adagio
14. Sonata for violin & continuo No. 1 in D major (from Dissertazioni sopra l'opera Quinta del Corelli): Allegro
15. Sonata for violin & continuo in A major, Op. 2/6: Siciliana. Larghetto
16. Sonata for violin & continuo in A major, Op. 2/6: Capriccio. Allegro, e con affetto
17. Sonata for violin & continuo in A major, Op. 2/6: Andante moderato
18. Sonata for violin & continuo in A major, Op. 2/6: Largo
19. Sonata for violin & continuo in A major, Op. 2/6: Allegro assai

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #163519 in Music
• Released on: 2005-03-29
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .25 pounds

Amazon.com
Veracini, one of the most outstanding violinists of his time and a prolific, versatile composer, is best known for his violin sonatas. The four recorded here come from different collections; obviously written by - and for - a virtuoso, they vary greatly in style and form. Opus 1 No. 1 is somber and dramatic, but three of its five movements are graceful dances; in the final Gigue, the violin imitates a "Posthorn." Opus 2, written 20 years later and entitled "Sonate accademiche," is more subtle and complex. No. 6 begins with a Siciliana, followed by a "Capriccio," a form Veracini favored: free, charming, surprisingly dissonant and chromatic. The minor-mode slow movement, flanked by two light, fast ones, is mournful and intensely expressive. The remaining two Sonatas are more contrapuntal. No. 1 from Veracini's last collection, "Dissertazioni" on Corelli's Sonatas Opus 5, develops Corelli's multiple-voice counterpoint and retains his "Moto perpetuo" finale. The playing is splendid. Holloway tosses off the fast passages, stratospheric flights, double and triple stops with effortless virtuosity; his articulation is crisp, his rhythm supple. Using low tuning and sparing vibrato, he produces a beautiful, warm tone, which he can change instantly to fit mood and character. His embellishments are brilliant and imaginative; his crescendos and decrescendos usually follow the ascending and descending lines, and he rather overdoes the echo effects. Jaap ter Linden makes his prominent cello parts authoritative yet supportive. --Edith Eisler

Customer Reviews

PURITY + PRECISION = PURE BAROQUE MAGIC


This is the fourth recording on ECM by John Holloway and colleagues. The first three are:

Schmelzer -- Unarum Fidium (ASIN B00002R0ZJ)
Biber -- Unam Ceylum (ASIN B00006I61G)
Biber -- Der Turken Anmarsch (ASIN B0000XK7LE)

These three discs are among the finest of all Baroque chamber music recordings that I've heard. To my taste, the two Biber CDs eclipse Andrew Manze's earlier effort and flirt with the status of desert-island discs.

Holloway's tone is phenomenally pure and precise. His colleagues are with him every step of the way. The playing brings to mind that of the finest string quartets -- that is how closely the players listen to each other and respond and integrate their parts.

Everything about these ECM discs is a delight: the music itself, the performances, the engineering (demonstration-worthy), and even such trivial niceties as the artwork and booklet.

This Veracini CD was released in March 2005, but I wasn't familiar with Veracini and so didn't purchase the disc. It wasn't until this CD was selected as a Gramophone Editor's Choice in April 2006 (I guess there's not a statute of limitations for that distinction) that I took the plunge.

My only regret is that I waited so long. Holloway & Co. have produced a truly outstanding disc. What surprised me so much is how outright tuneful Veracini's music is. In every movement, the violin dances and sings and traces some remarkably beautiful melodic lines. Jaap ter Linden on cello and Lars Ulriks Mortenson on harpsichord could not be more sympathetic or responsive partners. If this team had an ensemble name, that name would rank right at the apex of Baroque chamber groups, along with Florilegium, The Rare Fruits Council (Manfredo Kraemer), and Romanesca (Andrew Manze).

I would not consider this music as "specialist-only" repertoire. Veracini's music is so instantly attractive that it should appeal to any Baroque enthusiast.

The first piece on this CD, Op. 1/1, was recently recorded by Biondi and Europa Galante as the first piece on a CD of Italian violin sonatas (ASIN B00008XRSR). Don't get me wrong, I am an enthusiastic fan of Biondi and his group, but in this piece Holloway & Co. play circles around the Italians. Don't believe me? Listen to the sounds clips and decide for yourself!

I only hope that Hollway and his colleagues go on to record many more chamber-music discs as fine as this. Don't change the recipe, just give us more please!

(A fifth CD by these performers is available only through Amazon.co.uk -- ASIN B00005UC9Z. It's called "A London Concert" and includes works by Handel, Geminiani, Veracini, and others. It's on the audiophile Naim label.)

[Playing time: 61:46]

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Surprise gift
I had been listenned baroque music a few days, and gradually know and touch from famous composers ex Bach, Handel, vivaldi, to unknown composers. The latter music they often give me surprise and open my vision of music. For sample, violin sonatas music, these new style beginning during 1600 in italy, and developing until late baroque, we could find some outstanding composers, ex Geminiani, Locatelli and Veracini.
When I tried this CD, I don't know how to explain my feeling, it's very soft, smooth and beautiful. Sounds cheerfully to my heart, full of happiness.
Holloway, as other viewers described, I also had tried some, ex biber, schmelzer, they are all perfect, of course I should add Verachi in my satifying pool.

If it ain't Baroque, don't fix it (with apologies for the terrible pun :)
This is one of those rare discs that is pretty much perfect. "Pure Baroque Magic", as the previous reviewer said. Like that reviewer, I wasn't familiar with Veracini until this disc. Too many wonderful composers from the Baroque period are overshadowed by their much more famous contemporaries (e.g., Bach and Vivaldi), but Veracini is definitely worth discovering!

The four sonatas on the disc are beautifully written and performed, and the clarity of the recording is top-notch. Holloway seems to channel the spirit of composer-violinist Veracini (think of Yo-Yo Ma performing Boccherini) in his mastery of extemporaneous melodic ornamentation (trills, turns, and mordents -- oh my!), which was usually not notated explicity in Baroque manuscripts but rather simply expected of a capable performer. Holloway is certainly that!

These aren't sonatas in the Classical (and later) sense of the term. Using later definitions, these might have been called trios. But the sonata form in the Baroque period was different. In the Vivaldian form, there were four movements, while in the form popularized by Corelli, there were five -- as opposed to the more common three-movement form in the Classical and Romantic periods. There are representatives of both Baroque forms here, one of which is an explicit homage to Corelli's Opus 5.

Those familiar with the later form of the sonata might also be surprised to see a harpsichord *and* cello here, but the two operate together as a continuo in most of the movements, which is typical of the period. There are occasions, however, where the cello and harpsichord get to "stretch their legs", so to speak, breaking out of the continuo model, as in the lovely opening movement of the Sonata No. 5 in C Major (track 6). Listen for the wonderful tinkling arpeggiation in the hapsichord part, making it sound more like a harp, while the cello part is beautifully spare, harmonically reinforcing the central violin solo.

Veracini also has the ability to surprise. In the liner notes, Holloway calls him "an innovative composer [with] an eccentric personality", and that comes through at many points. For example, in the downward chromatic progression in the Aria movement of the Sonata No. 1 in G Minor (track 2). But while he diverges from traditional harmonic and contrapuntal forms at times, Veracini also delivers passages that are wonderfully illustrative of Baroque character, as in the second movement of the Sonata No. 1 in D Major (track 11), which has the feel of a Bach canon. Think of the final Allegro of Bach's Brandenburg Concerto No. 3, taken down in tempo, and you'll have a good sense of it. There are also remarkably lovely slower movements, as in the Largo of the Sonata No. 6 in A Major (track 18), which calls to mind echoes of Vivaldi and Albinoni.

So, if you like the Baroque -- and in particular, Vivaldi, Corelli, Scarlatti, and to a lesser extent Bach -- do yourself a favor and order a copy of the Veracini Sonatas.