L‘Arte del Virtuoso Vol. 3
Solo Concertos
Georg Philipp Telemann (1681–1767)
Antonio Vivaldi (1678–1741)
Johann Gottlieb Graun (1703–1771)
Franz Benda (1709–1786)
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750)
caterva musica
MDG 926 2301-6
(SACD)
Price: 21,99 €
Enticing
For their 25th anniversary, caterva musica has recorded virtuoso concertos for all instrumental groups in the ensemble. L‘arte del virtuoso (The Art of the Virtuoso) is a four-part series released by MDG. The programme on Vol. 3 includes Franz Benda's dramatic flute concerto, lively chamber music by Telemann, Graun and Vivaldi, as well as a very special rarity: Johann Sebastian Bach's large-scale Sinfonia BWV 1045 with concertante violin.
Edgy
One of the most amazing and most puzzling of Bach’s compositions, Sinfonia was perhaps meant as an overture to a festive cantata which has been lost to time. Semiquaver figures run through all the parts in a triumphant eruption of sound. Virtuosic violin fireworks over suspended harmonic motion create an almost hypnotic atmosphere, not unlike minimal music.
Exhilarating
Franz Benda and Johann Gottlieb Graun were able to do what Bach could not: For decades they were in the service of the art-loving King Frederick II of Prussia. Benda's flute concerto, with its stormy and dramatic character, illustrates the high level of the Potsdam court orchestra, as does the distinctive quartet in which Graun gave the viola da gamba a ludicrously demanding part.
Energetic
Telemann's Hunting Overture provides an opulent and furious prelude that unfolds a striking effect, especially in MDG’s three-dimensional reproduction. In the second movement of Vivaldi's quartet, oboe and flute embrace each other in an intimate love duet, prefaced with an unusual surprise as an anticipation of caterva musica’s future projects.
"Auch Franz Bendas Flötenkonzert e-Moll ist selten zu hören; Constanze Kästners sauber intonierte und zeitgerechte Interpretation auf der Traversflöte macht es zum Höhepunkt der Aufnahme." - Klassik Festival
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