Venetian composer Anna Bon, illegitimate daughter of a writer and a singer, was raised and taught music at the Ospedale della Pietà girls' orphanage, Vivaldi's employer for many years. Born around 1740, she shows up in histories of women in music as one of the few composers in an era that decidedly preferred women at the keyboard rather than poised over a sheet of music paper. Recordings of her work have been rare, and the success of this release by flutist Silvia Moroni seems assured. These flute-and-continuo sonatas were ...
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Venetian composer Anna Bon, illegitimate daughter of a writer and a singer, was raised and taught music at the Ospedale della Pietà girls' orphanage, Vivaldi's employer for many years. Born around 1740, she shows up in histories of women in music as one of the few composers in an era that decidedly preferred women at the keyboard rather than poised over a sheet of music paper. Recordings of her work have been rare, and the success of this release by flutist Silvia Moroni seems assured. These flute-and-continuo sonatas were written for the court of Frederick II of Bayreuth in 1756, when Bon was 16. They're not in the least earth-shattering, but they have an attractive compactness. Indeed, their swift, assured harmonic motion is their most compelling feature; Moroni, in her notes, takes them to task for not showing off the flute (which was not Bon's instrument) to better advantage, but actually their sunny simplicity is their most advanced feature. All the sonatas are in three movements, but several...
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