Notes and Editorial Reviews
Francesco Barsanti is not a household name. Now and then he
turns up in concert programmes and on disc, mostly with some
Scottish tunes. This can be explained from his biography. He
was one of the many Italian performing musicians and composers
who moved to London to look for employment. He arrived there
in 1714, together with his friend Francesco Geminiani; both
were from Lucca. For a number of years he played the flute and
the oboe in the orchestra of the Italian opera. In 1735 he married
a woman from Scotland. He developed a special liking for Scottish
tunes
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which he arranged or incorporated into his compositions.
He found aristocratic patrons in Scotland and composed some
of his best music, his Concerti grossi op. 3 and his
Overtures op. 4. In 1743 he returned to London where
he started to work as a viola player. From that time he gave
up writing any original compositions. When he died in 1772 he
was poor and almost completely forgotten.
The concerti grossi which are the subject of this disc belong
to a genre to which various composers contributed. Italian music
was very popular among the musical societies of mostly amateurs
which were active in many English towns. They played not only
original music such as the concerti grossi by Corelli but also
arrangements, for instance of violin sonatas. Francesco Geminiani
took profit from the demand for Italian music by arranging Corelli's
violin sonatas op. 5 as concerti grossi. His own violin sonatas
were arranged as concerti grossi by his English admirer Charles
Avison, who also made arrangements of keyboard sonatas by Domenico
Scarlatti. Barsanti followed their example with his six Concerti
grossi after Giovanni Battista Sammartini and these were printed
in 1757.
These were arrangements of Sammartini's Sonate Notturne op.
6, scored for two violins and basso continuo. He was one
of the most celebrated Italian composers of his time and a representative
of the modern galant idiom. For this reason his compositions
found wide appreciation. He also made quite an impression with
his symphonies which paved the way for the classical style and
inspired Haydn in his early symphonies. Sammartini's music was
also known in England, and therefore an arrangement of the sonatas
op. 6 for a larger body of strings was a good move by Barsanti.
Although they were printed as concerti grossi and contain a
concertino of two violins, viola and cello, they have
little in common with the traditional concerti grossi as written
by the likes of Corelli and Handel. There are no dotted rhythms,
there is little counterpoint and the conventional fugal movements
are absent. These concerti grossi are in the same galant idiom
as the original sonatas by Sammartini. Even so, this is by no
means all just easy-listening stuff. Some slow movements, like
the largo from the Concerto II in A and the opening movements
of the Concertos IV in G and V in A, both with
the indication 'affettuoso', are quite expressive. Another particularly
fine movement is the pastorale which opens the Concerto VI
in E. All that said, the difference between these concerti
grossi and the earlier specimens of the genre is evident.
The performances which were originally recorded in 1997 are
lively and spirited, albeit technically not always to the highest
standard. In particular the intonation is less than perfect
now and then. I would also have liked a warmer and more intimate
acoustic. Yet this disc offers good entertainment and is well
worth listening to, because of the quality of the music and
the performances. All of which makes this reissue welcome. The
liner-notes give good background information and the booklet
includes a list of the instruments used.
-- Johan van Veen, MusicWeb International Read less
Works on This Recording
1.
Concerti Grossi (6) from Sonate Notturne, Op.6 by Francesco Barsanti
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Banchetto Musicale
Period: Baroque
Venue: Salvatorsaal, Wien
Length: 3 Minutes 44 Secs.
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