Gramophone – September 2019

gramophone.co.uk GRAMOPHONESEPTEMBER 201967

playinganynon-contemporarymusic.

Perhapsit’sinthesheerfreshnessand

firebehindtheirsoundfromtheoutset

ofNo1’sopeningAllegro.Orperhapsit’s

thealmostindecentplayfulsensuousness

heardafterafurtherminute,viathe

flutteringtrillsfromthefluteand

violinjoinedsmartlytogetherinminor

sixths;I’mtalkingbothtextureand

inflectionhere,withthewholestillfeeling

thoroughlycourtlyanddignified.Think

naughtyticklesinVersaillescorridors,

clothesstillon.

Whatelse?Well,there’sthelyricism

andgraceoftheduettinginNo2’s

centralAdagioat0'41",whentheviolin
firstenterstobringitsownspinonthe
flute’sornatelybutdelicatelyembellished
openingmelody.Orthenimble,unforced
dramaCatalanbringstothebusybass
lineofNo5’sopeningAllegro.Alsothe
beautifulinterplaybetweenallfourin
No6’scentralGrave,andhereImustalso
commentthatSchneider’sharpsichord-
playingthroughoutisajoy.
Canthisreallybeayoungensemble
recordingtheirfirstdisc?Or,indeed,
couldonlyayoungensemblehave
producedthis?Eitherway,Iloveit.
PHOTOGRAPHY: CharlotteGardner

NICK RUTTER

energeticpoetry.Meanwhile,the

continuoisalsostillconstantlyringing

thecolouristicchanges,DavidMiller

switchingbetweentheorbo,archlute

andBaroqueguitar,andStevenDevine

betweenharpsichordandorgan,withthe

wholeexpertlyunderpinnedbySusanne

Heinrich’sseven-stringbassviol.

Withsuchwall-to-wallelegant

exuberanceandexcellenceonshowacross

bothdiscs,youshouldn’thesitateinadding

themasapairtoyourcollection.

CharlotteGardner

Croes

‘Lasonateégarée’

SixSonatesentrio,Op 5

BarrocoTout

LinnFCKD597(62’• DDD)

This is so delicious

that it’s tempting

simply to suggest that

you to go and buy it.

But of course I’ll elaborate.

BaroccoTout comprise traverso fl autist

Carlota Garcia, violinist Izana Soria, cellist

Edouard Catalan and harpsichordist

Ganael Schneider. This, their debut disc,

was part of their prize for winning the

2017 York Early Music Young Artists

Competition. As for their composer of

choice, Antwerp-born Henri-Jacques

de Croes (1705-86) is a shadowy fi gure.

Historically speaking, we know a certain

amount: he was a talented violinist whose

career was mostly played out as leader of

the court orchestra in Brussels, with

composing duties part of the package,

and his music was expected to align with

the reigning Charles of Lorraine’s taste

for an unstuffy Italianate rococo galant style

in keeping with that of Louis XIV’s court

in Paris. In terms of his musical legacy,

however, there’s very little left. In fact

this Op 5 set of six trio sonatas was

until recently considered lost; and indeed,

while in practice it’s only No 6 that was

previously thought to be genuinely lost

(since half the sonatas are copies of pieces

already published in Op 1), it might as well

have been the lot of them, so little attention

have they received.

Back to these four young players, and

while normally I’d dismiss as meaningless

marketing twaddle the mission statement

on their website declaring ‘BarrocoTout

plays early music with contemporary

passion’, I’d say that in this case it’s

actually hitting on something very real

about this group, even bearing in mind

that that’s what you want of any musician

CHAMBER REVIEWS

talks to ...

Bojan Čičić

The baroque violinist considers

the little-known music of

Giovanni Carbonelli

How did you discover this set of sonatas?

I initially stumbled across Carbonelli’s name

in a music publisher’s catalogue, and then

got in touch with Michael Talbot, who had

prepared the edition, after reading his essay

on Carbonelli’s life and work in London. It

was a fascinating account of this little-known

18th-century musical igure: he was very well

regarded during his lifetime but fell into

relative anonymity after his death. My hope is

that this recording will help to bring him back

into the spotlight for modern audiences.

As an Italian living in London, what were

the main inluences on Carbonelli’s style?

The most obvious inluence is that of

Arcangelo Corelli. It is di icult to draw any

conclusions based on only one surviving

opus, the 12 violin sonatas we have recorded,

but his style seems to favour a type of

composing that aims for sophisticated beauty

rather than virtuosic amazement. Carbonelli

also worked at the Theatre Royal in Drury

Lane as leader of the orchestra, and you can

hear an element of the English quirkiness

found in theatre music of the time. As a

performer, it’s up to you to overcome the

many technical obstacles he puts in your way

in order for the audience to enjoy the simple

beauty he is trying to achieve. This music

doesn’t belong to the Vivaldi, Locatelli or

Biber style of writing that plays into the

performer’s hands by showing our ability

to the audience very easily. Its di iculty lies

hidden and should remain so, I think. If the

listener goes away having experienced what

they perceive as really beautiful, logical music,

I know that I’ve done my job.

What sets Carbonelli’s music apart from

his contemporaries?

It’s interesting to look at what happened after

Carbonelli’s career as a violinist in London:

he became a very successful wine merchant.

This might have been because he couldn’t

compete with the inlux of younger,

predominantly Italian violinists to London,

with their more galant style of composing.

On the other hand, Sonata XI o ers us

Carbonelli at his most virtuosic and modern,

showing that he was neither completely

stylistically calciied, nor immune to modern

developments in violin technique.

Why haven’t other violinists championed

this music?

Why modern baroque violinists have stayed

away from Carbonelli is beyond me. Perhaps

we live in an era when it’s much harder for

musicians to take risks, because we have to be

extremely careful to choose the right project

in which to invest our own time and e ort, and

money. But if the story of Carbonelli’s discovery

tells us anything, it is that as long as you have

passion for what you do, others will follow.