L'Arte dell'Arco

Handel’s Water Music and equally popular Firework Music are extremely well known standard repertoire for all Baroque enthusiasts. CPO are delighted to present this new interpretation, performed on period instruments by L’Arte dell’Arco and enhanced SACD sound quality to bring to life these two immensely popular works.

“Veracini has now survived 200 years of neglect to boot and is reclaiming his place in the pantheon of Baroque masters.” BBC Music Magazine

New recording from August 2008, made on period instruments.

L’Arte Dell’Arco was founded in 1994, and has rapidly built a reputation as one of the world’s leading Barock ensembles. They have worked with Cecilia Bartoli, Pieter Wispelwey and Christopher Hogwood. They have recorded for CPO, Deutsche Harmonia Mundi, and Brilliant Classics

Haydn’s violin concertos are early works dating from the 1760s. The First in C was only discovered in 1909 in the archives of the publishers Breitkopf – 100 years after the composer’s death. The First and Third concertos (the second is lost) were composed for the Italian violinist Luigi Tomasini, who, in 1761 was the concertmaster of the court chapel at Esterhaza. Doubtless his considerable skills influenced the writing for the solo parts as it both concertos are indebted to the Italian school, with Vivaldian sequences, and in the case of the First concerto, a delicious slow movement.

The Fourth Concerto in G is a very different work in style, and it is doubtful that it was written for Tomasini. More likely (and it is by no means certain that the work is actually Haydn’s – it just has enough ‘finger prints’ to be attributed to him) it was composed for the leader of the Morzin orchestra. It is the most old-fashioned of the three concertos on this CD, but nonetheless contains some lovely moments, especially the slow movement and the restless finale.

New recording from February 2008, made on period instruments.

L’Arte dell’Arco was established in 1994, and quickly established itself as one of the major baroque ensembles performing with Cecilia Bartoli, Pieter Wispelwey and Christopher Hogwood.

They have recorded for CPO, Deutsche Harmonia Mundi and Brilliant Classics.

The piano trios and string quartets dominate Joseph Haydn’s chamber music output. However, there is a sizeable body of work that falls outside this forms. The concertini and divertimenti all date from early in his career, and from the Morzin period, 1757-60. The piano dominates the scene, and the strings generally have to be content with routine accompanying roles. In some respects these are keyboard sonatas with string accompaniments. The divertimenti do provide the violin with more opportunities to partner up as an equal to the keyboard. They were probably composed as ‘Tafelmusik’ or for Prince Morzin’s family and friends to play along to.

As is typical of Haydn, he lavished as much care on these works as he did on his symphonies, concertos and masses. There are some wonderful moments in these works, and they should not be dismissed as second class Haydn – such a thing just does not exist.

All the concertos featured on these CDs are WORLD PREMIERE RECORDINGS

The second CD opens with the Concerto in C major which marks a deliberate shift in Tartini’s style, and moves away from improvised gestures of his first period.

30 CD + 1 CD ROM - CD-ROM contains notes on artists and concertos.

For anyone who loves the piano concerto, this 30CD set is a must-have. Containing the complete Beethoven cycle recorded by Brendel in the 1960s for Vox, the set also includes Tacchino’s pioneering set for the same label of the five Saint-Saëns concertos, and the complete Rachmaninoff concertos performed by Lugansky and Lill.

‘This performance gave me real pleasure. Brendel plays with a mixture of heart and head that is most satisfying, to which he adds countless touches of pianism that delight. He constantly throws light on the music by an interpretation that is clearly born of much thought about it and a deep understanding. The firstmovement is virile, the slow movement is most beautiful (I cannot imagine the solo opening better judged or more sympathetically played) and the finale goes at just the right speed, jaunty and pointed.’ Gramophone review, Brendel, Beethoven Concerto No.3

The 18th century is the starting point for this fabulous journey through the development of the piano concerto – Haydn’s delectable concertos and all Mozart’s 27, including the first four concertos. Kissin’s Tchaikovsky No.1 and Prokofiev No.3 can also be found here as well as his recording at the age of 12 of the two Chopin concertos, alongside rarities such as Field’s Concertos 5 & 6, and Weber’s three underrated concertos. Mendelssohn’s two brilliant concertos, the two huge masterworks by Brahms, Dvorák’s elusive G major Concerto with its beautiful slow movement, and the evergreen Schumann and Grieg ensure that this set will provide endless pleasure for the enthusiast.