Castrucci: Sonatas for Violin and B.C.

Castrucci, Pietro, Castrucci, Prospero

Merello, Davide, Pedrona, Marco

96945

Pietro (1679-1752) and Prospero (1690-1760) Castrucci are among the representatives of the generation of performers and composers who transformed the Italian violin school from Corelli to Tartini, and, at the same time, exported the Italian style abroad.

Romans by birth, between 1702 and 1705 both appeared on several occasions in the orchestra of Corelli, of whom they were pupils. In 1715, following Lord Burlington, they moved to London where they soon gained fame, prestige and great public favour, joining -Pietro as a sideman- the orchestra of the Royal Academy conducted by Handel. Pietro died in Dublin in 1751 and Prospero in London in 1760.

While Prospero’s sonatas are still written under the influence of Corelli, full of cantabiles in the best Italian tradition, Pietro’s sonatas, on the other hand, present a very different kind of writing, a real hotbed of technical experiments: tempo changes within the same movement, arpeggiated chords on three strings, unisons with basso continuo, inverted mordents, passages with the “arco battuto”.

Italian violinist Marco Pedrona was the 1st violin and soloist of the Orchestra Accademia 800, specializing in the performance of 19th century repertoire. In 1995 he founded the Ensemble Guidantus, an instrumental group specialized in baroque music. The Ensemble's repertoire includes music by Antonio Vivaldi and other famous composers of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, such as Arcangelo Corelli, Benedetto Marcello, Giovanni Battista Pergolesi, Domenico Scarlatti and the rediscovery of music by rarely performed composers. On this recording he is accompanied on the organ by Davide Merello.

Works:

•Castrucci: Violin Sonata in C major, Op. 1 No. 4
• Castrucci: Violin Sonata in D minor, Op. 1 No. 9
• Violin Sonata in D Minor, Op. 1, No. 7
• Castrucci: Violin Sonata in G minor, Op. 1 No. 3
• Castrucci: Violin Sonata, Op. 2 No. 1
• Castrucci: Violin Sonata, Op. 2 No. 12: I. Ciaccona
• Castrucci, Prospero: Violin Sonata No. 2
• Castrucci, Prospero: Violin Sonata No. 4
• Castrucci, Prospero: Violin Sonata No. 5

CD x 1

Brilliant Classics

7/4/23

5028421969459