If one asks a lover
of classical music who his favourite
composers are few will volunteer the
name of Corelli. Although he is generally
acknowledged as one of the most influential
composers in musical history, and according
to eye-witness accounts one of the greatest
violinists in history, his music is
little appreciated and some even consider
it boring and overrated. When in the
1990s Italian musicians started to play
on period instruments they concentrated
on Vivaldi's music rather than Corelli's.
Even today there are only a handful
recordings of his music by Italian interpreters.
Corelli's oeuvre isn't
very large: just six collections of
music were published, the last - the
Concerti grossi Op. 6 - after his death.
But his music was reprinted frequently
until the end of the 18th century. It
is for sure that he wrote more than
was printed. There are a number of sonatas
without opus number, and we also know
that he composed sinfonias which were
used as overtures to oratorios by other
composers of his time. These seem all
to have been lost, except one. It is
quite possible, though, that some of
them have been included in the concerti
grossi, probably reworked.
Corelli was once considered
the inventor of the concerto grosso,
but that is contradicted by the facts.
No composer can claim to be the inventor
of the genre. In fact it came into existence
at several places in Italy in the last
three decades of the 17th century. The
principle of the concerto grosso - the
contrast between a small group of instruments,
the 'concertino', and the 'ripieno',
the full orchestra - was the answer
to the habit of performing music with
large orchestras, sometimes consisting
of more than 100 instruments. Ensembles
of that size obviously lacked flexibility,
and a way to compensate was for a small
group of instruments to be set apart,
the 'concertino'.
The set of twelve concerti
grossi Opus 6 was published in 1713
by Estienne Roger in Amsterdam. It is
very likely though that the concertos
were composed some decades earlier.
We know that Georg Muffat saw and heard
Corelli direct performances of his concerti
grossi in Rome in 1681-82. During the
last years of his life Corelli was reworking
the concertos and preparing them for
publication.
The set is divided
into two parts: the first consists of
eight 'concerti da chiesa', the second
of four 'concerti da camera'. These
titles do not refer to the place where
they were performed. These works were
certainly played in church, but probably
more often in concert halls or in the
open air. The titles indicate in what
form they are written: the 'concerti
da chiesa' after the 'sonata da chiesa',
consisting of a sequence of slow and
fast movements. The 'sonata da camera'
contains a sequence of dances, usually
preceded by a prelude, and so do the
'concerti da camera' in this set.
In his performances
in Rome Corelli also made use of pretty
large ensembles, larger than those used
in most modern performances. It seems
that between thirty and forty musicians
were involved in performances under
Corelli's direction in the palaces of
the Cardinals Pamphili and Ottoboni.
On the other hand, it was also possible
to perform concerti grossi with the
concertino only - a practice Georg Muffat
mentioned in the foreword of his Concerti
Grossi of 1701. In that case the parts
for the concertino were to be played
piano to create a contrast with
the ripieno sections. The booklet doesn't
list the musicians involved in this
recording, but as the set was originally
released as part of a complete recording
of Corelli's music, I have turned to
that box and found out that ten violins
are used, three violas, two cellos and
a double bass.
For the continuo group
a harpsichord and a theorbo are always
used, and in most concertos also the
organ. From the sources and the witness
accounts of Georg Muffat one may conclude
that the theorbo was always involved
in the realisation of the basso continuo
part, the harpsichord much less. The
involvement of the organ is unsure,
whereas Muffat also mentions the harp.
It seems to me the choice made here
is strongly defensible. What I particularly
like is that no distinction is made
between the 'concerti da chiesa' and
the 'concerti da camera'. There is no
reason to use only an organ in the former
and only a harpsichord in the latter.
Considering that I
was a little disappointed by the performances
of the trio sonatas in the original
set I am happy to report that these
concerti grossi are a lot better. The
ensemble produces a very beautiful and
warm sound, which is extremely well
recorded by the sound engineer. The
recording took place in two churches.
The church in Deventer suffers from
reverberation which makes the orchestra
sound somewhat bigger than it really
is, but in the light of what we know
about the size of Corelli's orchestra
that is perhaps an advantage rather
than a problem.
I am generally satisfied
about the tempi, although I find some
movements a bit too slow - take the
last allegro of the Concerto No. 1 or
the second vivace from the Concerto
No. 8. There is reason to believe, though,
that Corelli's own performances showed
larger contrasts in tempi between slow
and fast movements. The recording of
the Ensemble 415, directed by Chiara
Banchini (Harmonia Mundi), probably
comes closer to his own tempi. It is
a shame Belder hasn't followed that
example. Otherwise his interpretation
has many virtues, among them the ornamentation
in the concertino. The very good sense
of rhythm is one of the most attractive
aspects of this recording, which results
in really swinging performances - for
instance, the first allegro of Concerto
No. 3 and the allemanda and corrente
of Concerto No. 9. The contrast between
the two sections of the closing allegro
of Concerto No. 4 is well realised.
The grave-andante largo of Concerto
No. 2 is very expressive, and the players
touch in some fine dynamic shades.
In short, this is one
of the better recordings of Corelli's
Concerti grossi. At budget price one
can hardly go wrong with this set.
Johan van Veen
for
details
Rémy Baudet,
Sayuri Yamagata (violin), Albert Brüggen, Richte van der Meer*
(cello) 
BRILLIANT
CLASSICS 92610 [66:19 + 64:30]
