Durante: Concertos For Strings

Ensemble Imaginaire; Corrieri, Eugenia

Naples in the first half of the 18th century ranked among the musical capitals of Europe. In the three major genres of operatic, sacred and instrumental music the city both attracted many of the continent’s best musicians to live and work there for a period, as well as nurturing a prodigious native tradition of performers and composers. Among the most distinguished of the latter company is to be counted Francesco Durante (1684-1755), praised by no less than Jean-Jacques Rousseau as ‘the greatest harmonist in Italy, which is to say in the world.’ Extravagant words, on the face of it, but backed up by many passages and twists of genius in the collection of eight concertos for string ensemble which features in this new recording from a sparky Italian period-instrument ensemble. Each concerto has its own proportions; only the Fifth followswhat we now think of as a three-movement, fast-slow-fast model. For the rest, fugues and double canons alternate with minuets and abrupt presto sections that translate some of the drama of opera into purely instrumental terms. The expression is always at full tilt; Neapolitan, one might say, and indeed it is Durante who passed down to posterity many of the characteristics that are now readily associated with an entire school and locale of composition. A world premiere recording distinguishes this set from its competitors: a concerto in B flat which did not belong to the single surviving hand-written score, but is indubitably by Durante, as its harmonic daring and vivid character will confirm. Ensemble Imaginaire gave the first performance of this concerto in modern times during the lead-up to this recording, which will be welcomed by all Baroque music enthusiasts.

Price: $17.98