Paradise: Instrumental Sonatas Of Antonio Bertali
BERTALI 13 Sonatas • Acronym • OLDE FOCUS 901 (63: 59)
Antonio Bertali (1605–1669) is one of those many composers from the Italian States who achieved prominence at the 17th-century Viennese courts of the Holy Roman Emperors. All of the rulers preferred the musical world of late 16th- and early 17th-century Italy, and their various musical directors provided many works along these stylistic lines. Bertali, who assumed the office of Kapellmeister followed Giovanni Valentini’s death in 1649, was especially known for his operas and church music, but his sonatas recall those of Uccellini, Merula, Marini, and Castello. That’s to say, they are a succession of dances, recitatives, fast movements in imitative counterpoint, and slow arias over ostinato basses. They are attractive, distinctive pieces that haven’t lacked for champions in the recent past, though Acronym claims first recordings for six of the sonatas heard on his release.
As for the ensemble, it performs with a rich, full-bodied sound in unison, as I remarked on its almost concurrent release of Pezel’s Opus Musicum Sonatarum Praestantissimarum Senis Instrumentis Instructum (Olde Focus 903). That precision is especially welcome in the faster movements, and the ensemble catches some of the extravagant “take stage” expressivity in the more freely phrased of the recitatives. However, in solo passages, at least one of the violinists (four are named collectively, but never separately) has an unappealingly thin tone and occasional difficulties with going off pitch. They’re not quite as adverse to vibrato here as they are on that Pezel release, but they come close: I counted only two brief uses apiece of slow and fast vibrato applied in the first six of the 13 sonatas. It would at least help with the tonal issues, as would other experiments with violin color that were written about at the time.
Overall, then, this is an enjoyable release, mitigated by anemic tone and pitch issues in some of the solo passagework. Consider as well Quicksilver’s Stile Moderno , which includes one of Bertali’s sonatas, along with many by his contemporaries (Acis 72546). Sadly, Andrew Manze’s tribute to Biagio Marini, Curiose e Moderne Inventioni , is no longer in print on Harmonia Mundi HMX 2907175, though his recording of Uccelini’s sonatas (Harmonia Mundi 907196) still is. All three albums provide a mix of first-rate playing and stylistic sensibility in much the same kind of music.
FANFARE: Barry Brenesal
$6.65
Original: $18.99
-65%Paradise: Instrumental Sonatas Of Antonio Bertali—
$18.99
$6.65
Description
BERTALI 13 Sonatas • Acronym • OLDE FOCUS 901 (63: 59)
Antonio Bertali (1605–1669) is one of those many composers from the Italian States who achieved prominence at the 17th-century Viennese courts of the Holy Roman Emperors. All of the rulers preferred the musical world of late 16th- and early 17th-century Italy, and their various musical directors provided many works along these stylistic lines. Bertali, who assumed the office of Kapellmeister followed Giovanni Valentini’s death in 1649, was especially known for his operas and church music, but his sonatas recall those of Uccellini, Merula, Marini, and Castello. That’s to say, they are a succession of dances, recitatives, fast movements in imitative counterpoint, and slow arias over ostinato basses. They are attractive, distinctive pieces that haven’t lacked for champions in the recent past, though Acronym claims first recordings for six of the sonatas heard on his release.
As for the ensemble, it performs with a rich, full-bodied sound in unison, as I remarked on its almost concurrent release of Pezel’s Opus Musicum Sonatarum Praestantissimarum Senis Instrumentis Instructum (Olde Focus 903). That precision is especially welcome in the faster movements, and the ensemble catches some of the extravagant “take stage” expressivity in the more freely phrased of the recitatives. However, in solo passages, at least one of the violinists (four are named collectively, but never separately) has an unappealingly thin tone and occasional difficulties with going off pitch. They’re not quite as adverse to vibrato here as they are on that Pezel release, but they come close: I counted only two brief uses apiece of slow and fast vibrato applied in the first six of the 13 sonatas. It would at least help with the tonal issues, as would other experiments with violin color that were written about at the time.
Overall, then, this is an enjoyable release, mitigated by anemic tone and pitch issues in some of the solo passagework. Consider as well Quicksilver’s Stile Moderno , which includes one of Bertali’s sonatas, along with many by his contemporaries (Acis 72546). Sadly, Andrew Manze’s tribute to Biagio Marini, Curiose e Moderne Inventioni , is no longer in print on Harmonia Mundi HMX 2907175, though his recording of Uccelini’s sonatas (Harmonia Mundi 907196) still is. All three albums provide a mix of first-rate playing and stylistic sensibility in much the same kind of music.
FANFARE: Barry Brenesal
