This is the third of three discs devoted to Jean-Marie Leclair's Op. 1 set of sonatas for violin and continuo. It's not clear whether the series is going to continue to Leclair's later publications; the sequential treatment of the sonatas on single discs could get a bit unwieldy. On its own merits, however, this is an enjoyable French Baroque disc from the consistently elegant period-instrument violinist Adrian Butterfield. He writes his own notes, not including any information about his instrument or equipment. But he ...
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This is the third of three discs devoted to Jean-Marie Leclair's Op. 1 set of sonatas for violin and continuo. It's not clear whether the series is going to continue to Leclair's later publications; the sequential treatment of the sonatas on single discs could get a bit unwieldy. On its own merits, however, this is an enjoyable French Baroque disc from the consistently elegant period-instrument violinist Adrian Butterfield. He writes his own notes, not including any information about his instrument or equipment. But he offers brisk, bright readings of these sonatas that merge the Corelli violin style with French features such as the gavotte, allemande, gigue (jig), and sarabande dances, all of which get an attractively light hint of dance rhythms here. Butterfield differentiates nicely between the pure Italian melody of the largo of the Violin Sonata in B minor, Op. 1, No. 12, and the "sarabandas" in the ninth and tenth sonatas, just a bit more courtly. There aren't many violinistic fireworks in the...
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