In the Europe of the first half of the seventeenth century, instrumental music became a source of sonic and expressive experimentation. Influenced by vocal rhetoric, composers sought to replace words with a new musical language. The virtuosity of the instrumentalists developed, as did invention, improvisation and the search for surprising sonorities. Along with the organ or the harpsichord, the violin was the instrument of choice for experimenting with these new techniques. Italian and German composers of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries such as Farina, Schmelzer, Mealli, Buxtehude, Biber, Pisendel and Bach vied with each other in imaginativeness... The violinist Chouchane Siranossian and the harpsichordist Leonardo García Alarcón - both loyal Alpha Classics artists - have chosen to explore this repertory, here including Bach's sonatas BWV 1019, 1021 and 1023 among other pieces.
1 * Violin Sonata in G Major, BWV 1021 (Arr. for Violin, Cello and Harpsichord)
2 I. Adagio
3 II. Vivace
4 III. Largo
5 IV. Presto
6 Sonata Detta la Farina
7 Scherzi Da Violino Solo: Sonata No. 6 in C Major: Passacaglia
8 Violin Sonata in C minor, BWV 1024: I. Adagio
9 Fugue in G minor, BWV 1026
10 Violin Sonata in D Major
11 I. Overture
12 II. Adagio Ma Non Tanto
13 III. Allemanda
14 IV. Gigue
15 Violin Sonata No. 3 in D minor: III. Imitatione Delle Campane
16 Violin Sonata in a Minor, "Victori Der Christen" (After H.I.F. Biber's Tenth Rosary Sonata)
In the Europe of the first half of the seventeenth century, instrumental music became a source of sonic and expressive experimentation. Influenced by vocal rhetoric, composers sought to replace words with a new musical language. The virtuosity of the instrumentalists developed, as did invention, improvisation and the search for surprising sonorities. Along with the organ or the harpsichord, the violin was the instrument of choice for experimenting with these new techniques. Italian and German composers of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries such as Farina, Schmelzer, Mealli, Buxtehude, Biber, Pisendel and Bach vied with each other in imaginativeness... The violinist Chouchane Siranossian and the harpsichordist Leonardo García Alarcón - both loyal Alpha Classics artists - have chosen to explore this repertory, here including Bach's sonatas BWV 1019, 1021 and 1023 among other pieces.
