ARTE VIOLINISTICA ITALIANA

In Italy the emergence and development of the sonatas for string instrument, in particular those sonatas for violin, went hand in hand with the huge fortune of the scuola di liuteria padana between Seventeenth and Eighteenth centuries. The beautiful Sonate da chiesa or Chamber sonatas (depending on destination) of Legrenzi, Merula, Uccellini, Porpora, Corelli and Vivaldi for one or more instruments and basso continuo were meant to be performed with the beautiful violins coming from the workshops of Amati, Stradivari, Guarneri and Guadagnini, or from those of excellent Luthiers in Milan, Brescia and Venice. Rinaldo Alessandrini, harpsichord virtuoso, chooses seven of the most beautiful and perform them with violins of Concerto Italiano, using period instruments and Baroque performance practice. Among the gems of this festival of Baroque violin a rollicking Chiacona for two violins and continuo (on the “Madness” of Spain) of Busseto Tarquinio Merula and virtuosic “Bergamasca” by Marco Uccellini, composer of Forlimpopoli.