These are fine performances of the foundational documents of the modern instrumental sonata, but listeners should sample them and be sure they're on board with all of the assumptions being made here. Corelli's 12 Violin Sonatas, Op. 5, are divided between the sonata da camera (chamber sonata) and sonata da chiesa (church sonata) types, between short suites of dance-based movements and abstract, mostly binary structures, respectively. Unlike other instrumental works of the High Baroque, they remained popular for decades, ...
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These are fine performances of the foundational documents of the modern instrumental sonata, but listeners should sample them and be sure they're on board with all of the assumptions being made here. Corelli's 12 Violin Sonatas, Op. 5, are divided between the sonata da camera (chamber sonata) and sonata da chiesa (church sonata) types, between short suites of dance-based movements and abstract, mostly binary structures, respectively. Unlike other instrumental works of the High Baroque, they remained popular for decades, both as vehicles for the display of technique and as compositional models. Corelli himself was famous as a performer, and these sonatas call for a good deal of non-notated ornamentation.This recording falls into several developing categories in its field. Violinist Stefano Montanari and the Accademia Bizantina use historical instruments. His Baroque violin is an abrasive but highly agile thing; you hear plenty of bow scraping across sheep intestine (or whatever), but there is no doubt...
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