Bernardo Pasquini was generally considered the most brilliant keyboard
player in Italy in the second half of the 17th century, comparable with
Frescobaldi in the first half. He was born in Pistoia and moved to Rome in
1650. Here he spent the rest of his life, although he made various
appearances abroad. He performed for Louis XIV in Paris and at the imperial
court in Vienna during the reign of Leopold I. His reputation crossed the
borders of Italy: he attracted many pupils from all over Europe, such as
Johann Philipp Krieger and Georg Muffat.
In Rome he played a key role in musical life and enjoyed the patronage of
Queen Christina of Sweden and the Cardinals Orroboni and Pamphili. He
regularly worked together with Arcangelo Corelli who also was the leader of
the orchestra in a performance of one of Pasquini's operas. In 1706
Pasquini and Alessandro Scarlatti became members of the Arcadian Academy,
founded in 1690. He wrote a considerable number of vocal works, especially
operas and oratorios. Unfortunately most of the latter are lost.
Despite his reputation as a keyboard player and composer few of his
keyboard works have been published during his lifetime. In the 1960s the
first edition of his complete output in this department was printed. It
shows great variety in forms: suites of dances,
partite (sequences
of variations),
passacagli and toccatas, clearly influenced by
Frescobaldi.
Pasquini also wrote two treatises, one of them lost. It is quite possible
that the sonatas which are the subject of this disc were written as
educational material. Pasquini wrote two sets of fourteen sonatas each, for
one and two keyboards respectively. Instead of writing them out he provided
only basso continuo lines which have to be worked out during performance.
The sonatas for two keyboards have been recorded before by Attilio Cremonesi
and Alessandro de Marchi (Symphonia, 1992); I am not aware of any recording
of the sonatas for one keyboard. The fact that the players have to work out
the
bassi continui themselves obviously results in varying
performances.
A comparison between the timings shows quite a few differences. More
importantly - and making this disc a valuable alternative to the Symphonia
disc - is the choice of instruments. Cremonesi and De Marchi played two
harpsichords; Scandali and Jourdain play most of the sonatas at two large
organs from the 18th century. Many Italian churches of that time had two
organs at the opposing sides of the choir: one on the 'epistle
side', and therefore called the 'Epistle organ', and
one at the 'gospel side' - the 'Gospel organ'.
This allows a dialogue between the two instruments which is especially
effective if one listens with headphones. These two organs in the Basilica
di Santa Maria della Misericordia in Sant'Elpidio a Mare date from
1757 and 1785 respectively. The former was built by Pietro Nacchini, the
latter by the famous organ builder Gaetano Callido. This organ was not
originally constructed for this church, but first placed in the Benedictine
nunnery. Both instruments are in unequal tuning which manifests itself
regularly during performance, and which makes them all the more interesting
and spicy. Also interesting is the combination of one of the organs with the
harpsichord. The latter is a copy of an instrument built in 1789 by Ignazio
Mucciardi which is part of the collection of Luigi Ferdinando Tagliavini in
Bologna.
I am happy with the Symphonia disc, but I am also glad to add this disc to
my collection. Not only do the two organists deliver inspired and sparkling
performances, the organs produce a gorgeous sound, thanks to the variety of
registers which the two artists have used. This disc offers more than 70
minutes of pure joy. Don't miss it.
Johan van Veen
http://www.musica-dei-donum.org
https://twitter.com/johanvanveen
