TELEFUNKEN
1 LP - SAWT 9499-A - (p) 1966
1 LP - 6.41217 AQ - (p) 1966
1 CD - 4509-97470-2 - (c) 1995
1 CD - 0630-13403-2 - (c) 1996
1 CD - 8.44268 XG - (c) 1989

ITALIENISCHE SOLOKONZERTE UM 1700






Giuseppe TORELLI (1658-1709) Konzert für Trompete, Streicher und Basso continuo D-dur (I)

6' 59" A1

- (Allegro · Adagio · Presto · Adagio · Allegro)



Antonio VIVALDI (c.1678-1741) Konzert für Blockflöte, Streicher und Continuo F-dur *
8' 00" A2

- (Allegro non molto "tutti gli strumenti sordini" · Largo e cantabile · Allegro "tutti gli strumenti sordini")



Giuseppe TORELLI Konzert für Trompete, Streicher und Basso continuo D-dur (II)

6' 46" A3

- (Allegro · Adagio · Allegro · Grave · Allegro · Adagio · Allegro)



Antonio VIVALDI Konzert für 2 Hörner, Streicher und Continuo F-dur **
7' 55" B1

- (Allegro · Larghetto · Allegro)



Pietro LOCATELLI (1695-1764) Konzert für Violine, Streicher und Basso continuo D-dur, Op. 3, Nr. 1

13' 50" B2

- (Allegro · Largo · Allegro)









 
Maurice André, Trompete
Frans Brüggen, Blockflöte
Hermann Baumann, Horn
Adriaan van Woudenberg, Horn
Jaap Schröder, Violine
 CONCERTO AMSTERDAM
Jaap Schröder und Jacques Holtman, Konzertmeister

Anner Bylsma, Violoncello
Gustav Leonhardt, Orgel (Positiv) und Cembalo
 





Luogo e data di registrazione
Hervormde Kerk, Bennebroek (Holland) - 4/5 e 19/21 Gennaio 1966

Registrazione: live / studio
studio

Producer
-

Prima Edizione LP
Telefunken "Das Alte Werk" | SAWT 9499-A (Stereo) - AWT 9499-A (Mono) | 1 LP - durata 43' 30" | (p) 1966 | ANA
Telefunken "Reference" | 6.41217 AQ | 1 LP - durata 43' 30" | (p) 1966 | ANA | Riedizione

Edizione CD
Teldec Classics | LC 6019 | 4509-97470-2 | 1 CD - durata 63' 29" | (c) 1995 | ADD | (Vivaldi) *
Teldec "Classical Experience" | LC 6019 | 0630-13403-2 | 1 CD - durata 74' 36" | (c) 1996 | ADD | (Torelli)
Teldec "I Love Classics" | LC 3706 | 8.44268 XG | 1 CD - durata 62' 35" | (c) 1989 | ADD | (Vivaldi) **

Cover
Paul Joseph Delcloche: "Court Concert at Lüttich." (Bavarian National Museum)

Note
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Giuseppe Torelli’s trumpet concertos occupy an unusually large place in his total concerto output. One reason for this is that the composer played in the orchestra of San Petronio in Bologna from 1686 to 1696, where there was a tradition of concerto and sonata music with solo trumpet; another is that “concertante” trumpet music would especially appear to be one of the main roots of the solo concerto. The high degree of contrast between a string tutti and a solo trumpet and the limited technical possibilities of the solo instrument (which was confined to its natural notes) strongly suggested a particularly clear distinction between tutti ritornellos and solo episodes, and Torelli has obviously developed the lucid structure of his concerto form from this tradition. We may assume that the trumpet concertos were composed during his Bologna period and for the “church concerts” in St. Petronio, and that accordingly the continuo should be realized on a small organ, as is the case in this recording. In their form, too, the works are still clearly modelled on the instrumental sonata of the Bologna School, with their sequence of brief, sharply contrasted movements and sections of movements; a “speciality” of Torelli’s is the three-section middle movement (slow-quick-slow). The spirit of all this trumpet music is mostly festive and brilliant, entirely in keeping with the traditional character of the solo instrument.
The first Trumpet Concerto in D major on our record begins with a concise Allegro whose solo episodes treat motifs of the tutti ritornello - and also free motifs - briefly but brilliantly. The middle movement begins with the chains of suspensions typical of a slow movement in an Italian church sonata; the solo trumpet - here used quite originally as a melodic rather than as a signal instrument - surprisingly “sings” a noble cantilena into this chordal structure. The quick middle section confines itself to a brief, capricious string tremolo; a shortened repetition of the first section then closes the movement. The Finale provides a powerful conclusion with the striking, martial style ofits triad-based thematic material.
The second Trumpet Concerto by Torelli is similar in character to the first, though differing greatly from it in its form. The first movement does not separate tutti and soli in extensive sections, but lets them play together in a limited space with little repetitions and dialogues. A little Adagio for strings in inserted exactly in the middle of the movement; after this the initial tempo is resumed with a new thematic idea. The slow movement is likewise in three sections: an earnest, march-like Grave played by the strings, without solo passages, encloses a-brief Allegro that is dominated not by the trumpet but by a solo violin. Not until the Finale is the solo trumpet used again, and then in a vigorous, allemande-like closing dance.
The two concertos by Vivaldi illustrate not only the expansion and consolidation of concerto form some twenty years after Torelli’s trumpet concertos, but just as much the love of experiment of this greatest of all Italian concerto composers. The Concerto for Recorder adds to the attractive tone colour of the solo instrument another, still more distinctive shade by letting the strings play “con sordino” throughout in the outer movements. The first movement, a melodious Allegro, presents three significant themes in the ritornello which are repeatedly taken up in the tutti and soli (where the recorder is joined by a solo violin in places) and subjected to various treatments. The slow movement is an unusually melancholy Siciliano in the minor key, the Finale a very concise closing dance, sharply spiced with syncopations, which is very lightweight in character compared with the austere middle movement. The Concerto for Two Horns is completely dominated by the character of the solo instruments, with martial rhythms, military signals and hunting associations in the resplendent outer movements and with an almost romantic magic of sound in the genial Siciliano of the slow movement.
The Violin Concerto from Locatelli’s Op. 3, published 1733, seems to come from another world; it shows how quickly and manifoldly the Italian violin concerto had developed in the first decades of its history. Powerful chordal strokes open the first movement, which concentrates entirely on the continuation and development-like treatment of the initial motif of the complex ritornello. The virtuosity of the solo violin, which is used almost exclusively in the highest positions, increases in the inserted “Capriccio”, an extensive cadenza before the final tutti, to those violin acrobatics with which Locatelli the violinist aroused the greatest admiration and enthusiasm ot his contemporaries. There is an English letter, written by Doctor T. Dampier in Amsterdam on 4th April, 1741, commenting the artist’s work as follows:
‘... Locatelli plays his Laberinthe (Concerto Op. 3 No. 12) and another piece, which he has lately composed 50 times more difficult with more ease than I can humm the “Black Joke”; and what is still more extraordinary, he never pulls off his coat to play it, as I have observed most great musiciens do. For my part, I look upon him to be as great a player as Handel, though this latter be so much bigger and taller. He plays with so much fury upon his fiddle, that in my humble opinion, he must wear out some dozens of them in a year. Mr. Smith the bookseller here, who is master of a great stock of learning in all the arts and sciences, told us, that he (Locatelli) never was known to play one note out of tune, except once, when in performing the difficult piece he has lately composed, he thrust his little finger through the bridge of the fiddle and could not get it out again...’
The basic character of vigorous energy and passionate, almost melancholy earnest also dominates the slow movement with its sorrowful chromaticism and its sweet solo cantilenas. In its combination of capricious and majestic elements and its “perpetuum mobile” virtuosity, the last movement is perhaps the most original of the work - no mere leightweight final dance, but a fully authentic concerto finale.
·················
The Solo Concerto, originated in Italy around 1700, is a variety of the great instrumental concerto known as the Concerto grosso, which dominated Italian orchestral music of the late 17 th century. In the concerto grosso a small group of instruments was placed in alternation with the full orchestra (nearly always a string orchestra with basso continuo) to form a contest as it were between contrasting bodies of sound - “concertare”. The idea of placing a single instrument in contrast instead of a group in order to depict the contest even more graphically would seem to be a natural development. The solo-concerto’s comparatively late appearance on the scene then is rather surprising. Nevertheless it was not until about 1700 that the time was ripe for the emergence of the soloist as an individual in his own right. This step not only affected the concerto but likewise the opera-aria, which around that time developed into a virtuoso concert-piece and vehicle for vocal display. Here, as with the concerto, the role of the soloist rapidly acquired all the features of bravura, dazzling with technical brilliance and elegant virtuosity. Besides, there was the important social aspect; court events, public concerts (simultaneously becoming more wide-spread), and even the intervals of opera and oratorio performances became occasions for magnificent display. The travelling virtuoso, admired, féted and paid princely sums at the courts and in all the principal cities of Europe, was an essential part of the make up of the solo concerto, particularly of the violin concerto, which was soon to form the main part of the new repertoire and whose best interpreters were often the composers themselves, as in the case of Locatelli.
It is not known even today who the actual “inventor” of this new musical form was; this is still a matter of some controversy. What is known for certain is that it was primarily Giuseppe Torelli and Antonio Vivaldi who took the abundant variety of forms of the concerto grosso and rounded them into an homogenous whole, so creating a prototype that was to stay binding for the instrumental concerto of Italy, France, Germany, and England for about 60 years, that is from 1700 till about 1760. Vivaldi also tried every conceivable instrumental combination for the settings of his solo concertos. He introduced nearly every existing instrument of the time as solo instrument, exploiting each one’s technical possibilities to the utmost. In doing so he gave the late-baroque concerto not only an inexhaustible reserve of technical resources but also a display of finely shaped nuances as well as a distinct new range of expression which his contemporaries and successors never ceased to prey on.
The form of the Italian solo concerto is as clear and simple as the abundance of its ways of presentation and powers of expression are manifold and variegated. These two elements, the simplicity of the form as a whole and the many nuances complement each other and give the form its inner determination and richness which so triumphantly surpasses the incidental scheme of the formal lay-out. In these qualities lies the unique social value of this type of music. It appealed on the one hand to court society where it could be enjoyed as an object of astonishing and brilliant entertainment at table or social gatherings; on the other hand, it was appreciated by the connoisseur as an ingenious and imaginative play with a familiar and clearly defined musical form to be studied, wisely discussed and judged according to its originality, wealth of invention, and delicacy of execution.
The Italian solo concerto as shown in the vast majority of these works since about 1700-10 has three movements: two quick outermovements enclosing a slow middle section. The middle movement is the most variable section of the concerto; it may be bound to a binary or ternary form (AB, ABA) or given freedom to unfurl in the style of a fantasy, it may be strictly limited harmonically or have a wide scope for modulation, it may be dramatic or lyrical in mood, but it nearly always gives the solo-instrument an opportunity to unfold in cantabile melody. The outer movements are mostly uniform in construction according to a principle of alternation between a recurring main section (ritornel) in the orchestra and several musically varied solo-episodes, as had been developed in the freer variety of formal resolutions in the Concerto grosso. Vivaldi’s usual form which soon was generally accepted comprises 4-5 ritornels and 3-4 episodes. The ritornels may be confined to one graphic main idea which is varied on each reappearance, or may link up a series of ideas. The solos are either freely drawn or take up the ritornel motifs and develop them further, the last solo passage usually being in the form of a virtuoso-like cadenza. The harmonic structure of the movements is in accord with the thematic scheme; the ritornels are in the tonic, dominant, subdominant, or related keys, and the solo passages modulate into the subsequent ritornel. It is easy to understand that such a lucid and easily manipulated frame-work should provide such ideal scope for the imagination let loose among its parts. The historical achievement of Vivaldi and Torelli lies in their discovery of its potentialities and in its ability to meet the obligations of “classical” balance between contrast and accord, freedom in the episodes and constructive conciseness in the ritornels, basic emotional content and its subtle shadings, dramatic impetus and Romanic clarity, completeness, strict musical structure and the effortless unfolding of virtuosity.
Ludwig Finscher