Vivaldi: Cello Sonatas

Cocset, Bruno, Les Basses Réunies

Alpha 313

This recording has been reissued in the Alpha Collection : essential baroque masterpieces, with an unpublished interview of Bruno Cocset : • "Although, historically speaking, this disc wasn’t quite our first, it was the one that really launched the ensemble on the exploration of a repertory and of the instruments we work with. I had been playing these Vivaldi sonatas in concert with Il Seminario Musicale for a number of years; along with the Bach suites, they are the works I had most often had the chance to tackle in public. So it was only natural that I should wish to extend that platform experience to the recording studio. [...] Finally, my wish to record these sonatas was very much motivated by the cello that the luthier Charles Riché made for me in 1996. Before that I had played period instruments: I had two eighteenthcentury cellos. Paradoxical as it may seem, it was this new instrument, modelled on a Stradivarius, that made me want to explore the solo cello repertory again. [...] The richness of this repertory lies in the fact that the continuo forces are virtually never specified. So it’s up to us as musicians to imagine what we want to hear. Obviously, having done a lot of continuo playing in ensembles, I attach special importance to this question: the sonic perspectives of the voices one accompanies and the way to bring them out to best advantage depend on the textures of the accompaniment. There’s always a dominant instrument that emphasises a particular colour, and that colour is enriched according to the harmonics one adds, which increase the density of the sound spectrum. This process of sculpting the sound material is the work of several musicians. Continuo playing is the art of sharing, of ensuring that all the members of the team sense what they can do to mix into the colour what will constitute its identity; to be present to allow the soloist to fulfil his or her potential, while at the same time nurturing a very interactive dialogue."

CD x 1

Alpha

10/08/2015

3760014193132

Classica: 'Choc de Classica'