Corrette: Les délices de la Solitude Sonatas Op. 20

Opera Prima Ensemble;
Contadin, Cristiano

95265

The Parisian composer Michel Corrette (1707-1795) is now best-known for his organ music, which delightfully exemplifies the lighter side of the French Baroque organ school, with pastorally inflected Noels and boisterous dances. Those qualities are no less present in this collection of six chamber sonatas which was published in 1738 or thereabouts as Corrette’s Op.20. Indeed, there is every reason to suppose both from these concertos and much other, even less familiar secular music, that Corrette was no less at home in aristocratic salons than he was in a cathedral organ loft. With the curtain-raising fugue and affettuoso central outset of the First Concerto in F major, Corrette explores from the outset a vein of rhythmic elasticity, melodic contouring and lyrical expression that commands attention throughout the cycle. There’s plenty of joy taken in virtuosity – his court musicians must have been true soloists – displayed in vibrant finales abounding in momentum and rhythmic drive.

CD

Muzyka klasyczna

Brilliant Classics

13-11-2019

5028421952659