Composer: Ludovico Roncalli
Performer: Bernhard Hofstötter
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: Brilliant
Release: 2021
Size: 311 MB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: cover
Sonata No. 1 in G Major:
01. I. Preludio
02. II. Alemanda
03. III. Corrente
04. IV. Gigua
05. V. Sarabanda
06. VI. Gavotta
Sonata No. 2 in E Minor:
07. I. Preludio
08. II. Alemanda
09. III. Gigua
10. IV. Sarabanda
11. V. Gavotta
Sonata No. 3 in B Minor:
12. I. Preludio
13. II. Alemanda
14. III. Corrente
15. IV. Sarabanda
16. V. Minuet
Sonata No. 4 in D Major:
17. I. Preludio
18. II. Alemanda
19. III. Corrente
20. IV. Gigua
21. V. Sarabanda
22. VI. Minuet
Sonata No. 5 in A Minor:
23. I. Preludio
24. II. Alemanda
25. III. Corrente
26. IV. Gigua
27. V. Sarabanda
28. VI. Passacaglii
Sonata No. 6 in F Major:
29. I. Preludio
30. II. Alemanda
31. III. Corrente
32. IV. Gigua
33. V. Sarabanda
34. VI. Minuet
35. VII. Gavotta
Sonata No. 7 in D Minor:
36. I. Preludio
37. II. Alemanda I
38. III. Gigua
39. IV. Minuet
40. V. Alemanda II
41. VI. Corrente
42. VII. Sarabanda
Sonata No. 8 in C Major:
43. I. Preludio
44. II. Alemanda
45. III. Corrente
46. IV. Gigua
47. V. Minuet
48. VI. Gavotta
Sonata No. 9 in G Minor:
49. I. Preludio
50. II. Alemanda
51. III. Corrente
52. IV. Minuet
53. V. Gavotta
54. VI. Passacaglii
Ludovico Roncalli was born into an aristocratic family in Bergamo, Italy. He studied law and later became a priest. For his musical education he went to Rome, where he enjoyed the patronage of Cardinal Panfilio, the dedicatee of his Capricci Armonici.
This new recording contains Roncalli’s complete Capricci Armonici. The book includes Nine Sonate or suites, one in each of eight tuoni or modes and one in the tuono trasportato, following the classification system in use at the time. Each suite opens with a free-style preludio and an allemanda followed by other late seventeenth-century dance forms such as the corrente, sarabanda, giga, minuetto and gavotta. Each successive movement is based on themes from the opening allemanda which gives each suite an overall sense of unity. In these works, Roncalli is clearly influenced by Bartolotti and De Visée. His exquisite melodic lines and elegant counterpoint are seamlessly combined with the strummed five-part chords which were still a defining feature of guitar music at the time. He makes imaginative use of the characteristic guitaristic devices such as arpeggii and campanelle – bell-like effects created by playing each note of a scale passage on different courses – and elaborate ornamentation.
Beautifully played by Austrian guitarist Bernhard Hoffstötter, whose previous recordings for Brilliant Classics (Francois Campion (95276) and The Baroque Lute in Vienna (95087)) received excellent reviews. Gramophone about his Weiss recording: “some of the most sympathetic and beautiful Weiss-playing yet committed to disc”.