Jean-Marie Leclair was considered one of the greatest
violinists of his time. He started his career as a dancer, but when
he was in Italy he was stimulated to develop his skills at the violin,
probably by Giovanni Battista Somis who became his teacher. His compositional
output almost entirely consists of music for the violin: four books
with sonatas for violin and bc, three collections with pieces for two
violins and bc and a set of pieces for two violins without bass. He
also wrote twelve solo concertos for his instrument.
The first two books with solo sonatas were written before his time in
Italy and are less demanding than the third and fourth books. Even so,
they bear witness to Leclair being influenced by the Italian style well
before he became Somis' pupil. They are a mixture of the
sonata da
chiesa and the
sonata da camera; the number of movements
varies from three to five.
There is certainly no lack of Leclair recordings these days. Things
were different when this disc was first released. It can be interesting
and worthwhile when such early recordings are reissued, but in this
case I am not sure that it was such a good idea. First of all, the recording
is disappointing. The violin is very close to the microphone, whereas
the basso continuo group is pushed into the background. As a result
the balance is unsatisfying and the basso continuo has little in the
way of presence.
Secondly, the playing of Fabio Biondi is different from what we are
used to hearing today. He was always a bit different from other baroque
violinists, even his fellow Italians. To be honest, I have never really
liked his style. He uses more vibrato than others, there are too few
dynamic accents, and he often plays legato where a more clear articulation
would have been preferable. His performances are not very speech-like
and the rhythmic pulse is vague.
The
Sonata VIII shows these playing features. Add to that the
slow tempo of the opening largo and of the third movement, which is
a
musette. The particular effect of such a movement - which often
appears in French music of the time - doesn't come off because of the
very slow speed adopted. Adrian Butterfield, in his complete recording
of this book of sonatas (Naxos), does a much better job. The fast movements
of the
Sonata XI are especially disappointing because of the
lack of differentiation and insufficiently marked rhythms.
Only in certain movements does their dance character come to the fore,
for instance the closing
giga from the
Sonata VII and
the
allegro from the
Sonata III. The
largo from
the latter sonata is relatively well done, but the lyricism of the
aria
from
Sonata VII is underexposed. It has the indication
gratioso,
and that is probably the reason Biondi plays it very softly. That doesn't
guarantee that it is also graceful; Biondi's playing is just too feeble-sounding
and lacks a true
cantabile character.
I have already mentioned the complete recording by Adrian Butterfield,
which was reviewed
here
and
here.
Together these three discs may cost a little more than this single Arcana
disc, but you will get the whole book of twelve fine sonatas in overall
much better interpretations.
Johan van Veen
http://www.musica-dei-donum.org
https://twitter.com/johanvanveen
