Tartini: Sonata No.6 in E minor - Brainard e1

In the last years of his life, the great composer, violinist and swordsman Giuseppe Tartini (1692–1770) laboured at a vast cycle of sonatas for solo violin.

These days Tartini is remembered by the general public only for his ‘Devil’s Trill’ Sonata but he is a far more important composer than that work would suggest: taken together, these sonatas form the most important composition for solo violin after Bach. Indeed, at six hours in duration, it is the largest integrated work for the instrument.

The music is surprisingly lyrical, often with echoes of folk-music from Tartini’s Istrian homeland.

This first complete recording – launched in the year which sees the 320th anniversary of Tartini’s birth – is based on a fresh study of the source and includes a number of works in Tartini’s shorthand, overlooked in earlier editions, and deciphered by the solo violinist Peter Sheppard Skærved for the first time.

Born in 1692, in what today is Slovenia, Giuseppe Tartini ranks among the most famous of late-Baroque composers. A colourful figure who was the subject of various scandals during his lifetime, the Italian was forced to flee Padua in 1710 when it was discovered he had secretly married the niece of the city’s Bishop. Tartini sought refuge at the monastery in Assisi, and it was there that he began lessons in both the violin and composition.

This compilation is dedicated to a selection of Tartini’s violin sonatas (over a hundred survive). The Op.2 set was published by Le Cène of Amsterdam in 1743. Apart from the sixth work which exhibits a rather unusual five-movement structure, the remaining sonatas have a slow movement followed by two faster pieces – a form to be found in the majority of the ‘Piccole’ sonatas which follow. Taken from the manuscript collection of St Anthony’s Basilica in Padua, these compositions feature optional bass lines and similarly display all the hallmarks of Tartini’s natural style: from the melancholy of the slow movements to the quicker, folk-imbued ones, each work is written in an expansive and lyrical fashion, thus conforming to Tartini’s belief that music should be as natural as possible.

Contemporary accounts suggest that Tartini didn’t so much play his violin as make his instrument sing, and this is confirmed by the various cantabile markings in both the slow and fast movements of the latter collection. Featuring highly accomplished performances from Giovanni Guglielmo, Antonio Pocaterra, Alberto Martini and Ilario Gregoletto, this release is a must-buy for both the Baroque and violin enthusiast.

Booklet notes by Baroque music authority Brian Clark.

Lesser-known and rarely recorded repertoire.