MusicWeb International One of the most grown-up review sites around 2023
Approaching 60,000 reviews
and more.. and still writing ...

Search MusicWeb Here Acte Prealable Polish CDs
 

Presto Music CD retailer
 
Founder: Len Mullenger                                    Editor in Chief:John Quinn             


CD REVIEW

Some items
to consider

new MWI
Current reviews

old MWI
pre-2023 reviews

paid for
advertisements

Acte Prealable Polish recordings

Forgotten Recordings
Forgotten Recordings
All Forgotten Records Reviews

TROUBADISC
Troubadisc Weinberg- TROCD01450

All Troubadisc reviews


FOGHORN Classics

Alexandra-Quartet
Brahms String Quartets

All Foghorn Reviews


All HDTT reviews


Songs to Harp from
the Old and New World


all Nimbus reviews



all tudor reviews


Follow us on Twitter


Editorial Board
MusicWeb International
Founding Editor
   
Rob Barnett
Editor in Chief
John Quinn
Contributing Editor
Ralph Moore
Webmaster
   David Barker
Postmaster
Jonathan Woolf
MusicWeb Founder
   Len Mullenger

alternatively
AmazonUK AmazonUS

 

Christian Joseph LIDARTI (1730-1795)
Violin Concertos
Concerto for violin and orchestra in d minor [14:09]
Concerto for violin and strings in A [12:26]
Quartetto for 2 violins, viola and cello in G [14:32]
Concerto for violin and orchestra in C [20:16]
Auser Musici/Francesco D'Orazio (violin)
rec. June 2004, Oratorio di S. Domenico, Pisa, Italy DDD
HYPERION CDA67685 [61:25] 

 

Experience Classicsonline


One wouldn't expect someone with the Italian family name of Lidarti to bear the Christian names Christian Joseph. But this can be easily explained: his father, Giovanni Damiano, had emigrated to Austria and lived in Vienna, where Christian Joseph was born. Whether he was aiming at making a career in music isn't quite clear as he enrolled in philosophy and law at Vienna University. He received lessons at the keyboard and the harp, but as a composer was at first self-taught. At the instigation of his uncle, Giuseppe Bonno, a pupil of Leonardo Leo, he started to study the theorists. It was also Bonno who in 1751 sent him to Italy to study with the then most fashionable Italian master, Niccolò Jommelli. He had to wait six years after his arrival there before he was able to do so. In the same year he received his first musical appointment, as musician at the church of Santo Stefano dei Cavalieri in Pisa. In this city he was to stay for the rest of his life.
 

It seems that he was held in high esteem, as he had close contact with 'Padre' Martini, one of the most famous theorists and music historians of his day, and the English journalist Charles Burney, who paid him a visit. A large part of his musical output comprises chamber music, mainly for strings, although he himself also played the transverse flute - he was a sought-after teacher on that instrument - keyboard instruments and the harp. It has been suggested that he was especially skilled at the cello, although his autobiography doesn't mention this. The reason is that in many of his chamber works the cello has a remarkably virtuosic part to play. 

That is not the case in the string quartet recorded here. It is part of a manuscript found in New York, which contains six quartets which were published as sinfonias for strings and bass with additional instruments ad libitum in Paris in 1768 as his op. 2. In these quartets the two violins play the leading role, developing a dialogue with the viola and cello reduced to a supporting role. This quartet is a very fine work with nice thematic material. It makes an interesting addition to the literature for string quartet. I certainly would like to hear the other quartets of this collection. 

The worklist in New Grove doesn't mention any solo concertos, so I am not able to say whether the three violin concertos are Lidarti's only (extant) concertos. But Dinko Fabris's programme notes seem to suggest these are indeed all there is: "We have only a single source for Lidarti's three violin concertos, at the Library of the Paganini Conservatoire in Genoa. Although these concertos have been numbered 1 - 3, there is no evidence that this was the composer's ordering". The Concerto in A is scored for violin and strings, whereas the other two concertos have additional wind instruments. 

The concertos were written during a period in music history in which a 'natural' style was preferred, away from all kinds of exaggeration. It is not far-fetched to compare these works with the many violin concertos of Giuseppe Tartini. Tartini's principle that music should be written in "good taste according to nature" is certainly reflected in Lidarti's concertos. While listening to them I was regularly reminded of Tartini's violin concertos. I have listened to these concertos with great satisfaction: the thematic material is always interesting and well worked-out. The 'naturalness' of music doesn't exclude virtuosity as these concertos show. In this sense they are just like the Tartini works. 

Francesco D'Orazio is totally convincing in these concertos. He seems to feel completely at home in this repertoire and also completely convinced of the quality of these works. His performances are technically brilliant and very stylish. The cadenzas, probably created by Francesco D'Orazio himself, are beautiful and quite brilliant while avoiding exaggeration. The soloist and the ensemble excel in expressing the lyricism which is such a feature of the slow movements of Lidarti's concertos. 

In short, this is a most enjoyable recording of music which deserves the attention of today's interpreters and audiences. In the programme notes a reference is made to Pietro Nardini, a contemporary of Lidarti, who is also unjustly neglected. Both belong to a period in Italian music history which is hardly explored. It is to be hoped that this disc will encourage musicians and ensembles to do something about that. I certainly wouldn't mind hearing D'Orazio and Auser Musici in music by, for example, Nardini.

Johan van Veen

 


Advertising on
Musicweb


Donate and keep us afloat

 

New Releases

Naxos Classical
All Naxos reviews

Hyperion recordings
All Hyperion reviews

Foghorn recordings
All Foghorn reviews

Troubadisc recordings
All Troubadisc reviews



all Bridge reviews


all cpo reviews

Divine Art recordings
Click to see New Releases
Get 10% off using code musicweb10
All Divine Art reviews


All Eloquence reviews

Lyrita recordings
All Lyrita Reviews

 

Wyastone New Releases
Obtain 10% discount

Subscribe to our free weekly review listing

 

 


EXPLORE MUSICWEB INTERNATIONAL

Making a Donation to MusicWeb

Writing CD reviews for MWI

About MWI
Who we are, where we have come from and how we do it.

Site Map

How to find a review

How to find articles on MusicWeb
Listed in date order

Review Indexes
   By Label
      Select a label and all reviews are listed in Catalogue order
   By Masterwork
            Links from composer names (eg Sibelius) are to resource pages with links to the review indexes for the individual works as well as other resources.

Themed Review pages

Jazz reviews

 

Discographies
   Composer
      Composer surveys
   National
      Unique to MusicWeb -
a comprehensive listing of all LP and CD recordings of given works
.
Prepared by Michael Herman

The Collector’s Guide to Gramophone Company Record Labels 1898 - 1925
Howard Friedman

Book Reviews

Complete Books
We have a number of out of print complete books on-line

Interviews
With Composers, Conductors, Singers, Instumentalists and others
Includes those on the Seen and Heard site

Nostalgia

Nostalgia CD reviews

Records Of The Year
Each reviewer is given the opportunity to select the best of the releases

Monthly Best Buys
Recordings of the Month and Bargains of the Month

Comment
Arthur Butterworth Writes

An occasional column

Phil Scowcroft's Garlands
British Light Music articles

Classical blogs
A listing of Classical Music Blogs external to MusicWeb International

Reviewers Logs
What they have been listening to for pleasure

Announcements

 

Community
Bulletin Board

Give your opinions or seek answers

Reviewers
Past and present

Helpers invited!

Resources
How Did I Miss That?

Currently suspended but there are a lot there with sound clips


Composer Resources

British Composers

British Light Music Composers

Other composers

Film Music (Archive)
Film Music on the Web (Closed in December 2006)

Programme Notes
For concert organizers

External sites
British Music Society
The BBC Proms
Orchestra Sites
Recording Companies & Retailers
Online Music
Agents & Marketing
Publishers
Other links
Newsgroups
Web News sites etc

PotPourri
A pot-pourri of articles

MW Listening Room
MW Office

Advice to Windows Vista users  
Questionnaire    
Site History  
What they say about us
What we say about us!
Where to get help on the Internet
CD orders By Special Request
Graphics archive
Currency Converter
Dictionary
Magazines
Newsfeed  
Web Ring
Translation Service

Rules for potential reviewers :-)
Do Not Go Here!
April Fools




Return to Review Index

Untitled Document


Reviews from previous months
Join the mailing list and receive a hyperlinked weekly update on the discs reviewed. details
We welcome feedback on our reviews. Please use the Bulletin Board
Please paste in the first line of your comments the URL of the review to which you refer.