Customer Reviews

Scarlatti: Concerti & Sinfonie

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This album contains three very short sinfonie of Domenico Scarlatti (the son and rival of the father)which are very exciting. The Sinfonia in G major as example, contains writing that is more excitable and virtuosic.

There is six concertis grossis of Allesandro (the father). Alessandro Scarlatti's Concertis grossi seem to a singularly small extend to be concertante. Only the two major-key concertos (Nos 3 and 6) offer the soloists any real chance to shine, and of these, although in the pastoral Third concerto the first violin seems to be featured, in the last movement of the sixth each of the solo voices has its equal right to a little moment of glory.

I owned this Cd for about six months and I never listened to it...since a week!!! I was first unable to endure the darkness suffering of Allessandro Concertis. It seems to me that I was listening to a dark legacy of one of the king of Baroque era. So I hide it in a wardrobe.

A week ago, I listened to one of these masterpieces at the radio, A bell rang !!! What was wrong vith me with this sublime recording ?

Too much darkness? Or a litte lazinnes from myself ?

Europa Galante plays like they never played before. In fact Biondi the virtuoso is conducting his band like a great chief, without egotism. He lets them played like a real ensemble.

Sublime Success !!!

The sound offers great clearness (Diapason d'or of 2002)

So be more patient than me. At first, listen to the major-key concertis. After, be prepare to explore the huge, the mysterious gravity and the beauty of Alessandro feeling.

When I listen to instrumental Baroque music I, of course, go to J.S. Bach then to Tomoso Albinoni and to Antonio Vivaldi not thinking of Alessandro Scarlatti or his son Domenico for instrumental (as in string ensembles) Baroque music. I primarily think of Alessandro for vocal works and Domenico for keyboard works. This recording has certainly opened my eyes to the fact there was far more to the Scarlattis than my preconceived ideas.

Alessandro's Concerti Grossi are indeed rather somber being written mainly in minor keys and consisting of at least two slow movements. I do have a propensity for the love of works in minor keys and for movements marked "Grave", "Adagio" and/or "Largo"; therefore, I enjoyed his Concertos. (After all, there are dance movements that although they would not make one "twirl the floor" they are very graceful.) The programming on this disc is great because the aforesaid somber works by Alessandro are lightened by the Sinfonias of his son Domenico whose works are mainly in major keys and are more lively!

Fabio Biondi and the original instrumental group Europa Galante play wonderfully plus the sound of the recording is full, lush and warm.

In closing, I will still stick to Tomoso Albinoni and to Antonio Vivaldi to start my day. However, this recording of Alessandro and Domenico Scarlatti is a fine way to end my day. The music is indeed beautiful!

This disc is a little imposing at first, but familiarity is rewarded with this program of superb early baroque music that has a great variety of pieces.

One of the reviewers below finds it depressing. I can understand how the slow dense shifting chords in several of the pieces could evoke that feeling, but for me they seem to express some deeply felt and complex inner peace, especially as they are interspersed with some light and elegant passages, especially some that feature lute or plucked violin(?).

I guess that this isn't perhaps the easiest Biondi disc to listen to for some people (I would advise listening to a few tracks first), but Europa Gallante give a wonderful compact performance.

The world became a poorer place when the Italians stopped writing counterpoint. This disk captures the solemn ceremonial joy of the Concerto Grosso form as developed by Archangelo Corelli and expanded here by Alessandro Scarlatti. Scarlatti was unique in several respects, a Baroque Sicilian writing in Italy, a successful Operatic and Choral composer who, in mid-career produced this set of finely wrought and introspective concerti grossi, at a time when such instrumental works were seen as a mere obligatory adjunct in preparation for Operatic composition- the purview of young composers eager to demonstrate their competence. We don't know why such a successful vocal composer would suddenly turn to instrumental writing, or how it was these pieces emerged so intimate and personal in character, but we can be grateful that they did.

Fabio Biondi and Europa Galante shine in some of their best performances to date, transporting the listener back to the marbled palaces and cathedrals of Eighteenth Century Italy. Their respect and admiration for this music and this composer is obvious; their playing graced with the conviction that the music of the elder Scarlatti needs no excuses or elaborate interpretation to demonstrate its quality.

Included on the disk are several short works by the younger Scarlatti, Domenico, whose concerti and sinfoni seem rather shallow and perfunctory in comparison to those of his Father. Even so, the comparison between the two generations of Scarlatti is both entertaining and informative.

These are among the greatest Baroque Concerti, and at the same time among the least appreciated. There is polyphony here to delight the Baroque Music Lover, lively, inspired and elegant. My particular favorite is the F Minor Concerto, towards the beginning of the disk, which begins with an Adagio that breaks over the listener like a prayer, and then resolves into a captivating fugue that features some surprisingly modern accent displacement, at once venerable and thoroughly original. If you have grown tired of Vivaldi's overt simplicity and are eager for a composer of genius to counterbalance the great German Masters, Alessandro Scarlatti is your man. His concertos are not numerous, but, such as they are, fully worthy of inclusion in the repertoire of Baroque Instrumental Masterpieces.

A Crisp and clear recording, and the best of the orderly, structured music of The Enlightenment in my opinion. One can hear the optimism and confidence of the time ringing thru the music of The Scarlattis. Around 1701, Domenico (b.1685 - d.1757) was named organist and composer of the vice-regal court at Naples, where his father was a respected maestro. About a year later he took a leave of absence and travelled with his family to Florence where his father, Alessandro (b. 1660 - d. 1725), hoped for employment from Pnnce Ferdinando de' Medici. Sadly, Alessandro didn't get the job, so his father canned Domenico in 1705 and sent him off to Venice to find employment. Some think that Domenico first met Handel in Venice. (The two eventually formed a strong friendship.) Domenico also spent time in Rome (where he wrote seven operas for Queen Maria Casimira) and in Portugal.

By the invention of the machine gun (esp. the Gatlin gun in 1861), things have changed in classical music, and one does not hear such calm, rational, even mathematical structures appearing as the main motiffs from composers of the day. Even earlier, however, the committment to reason was fading fast. First, in 1853, Richard Wagner publishes the librettos to Der Ring des Nibelungen (The Ring Cycle): Das Rheingold, Die Walküre, Seigfried and Die Götterdämerung. The Ring Cycle is considered one of the most ambitious musical projects ever undertaken by a single person, and everything is now "over the top", poetic and romantic. Second, in 1860 the slave trade introduces West African rhythms, work songs, chants and spirituals to America, which strongly influence blues and jazz, and which attracts many of the best musical minds of the era.

For some time now, there has been no room for any philosopher kings in contemporary (i.e post-enlightenment) society. Given the continuing craziness of the early 21st century, don't look for any to soon arise.

This is my kind of music - rich, elegant, arrogant, polished, colourful and stylish.

Fabio Biondi and his team make the most beautiful possible in this CD and my only complaint is that the CD wasn't totally devoted to Alessandro Scarlatti - why bother with Domenico here?

The A minor concerto/sonata for recorder, two violins, violoncello & basso continuo is a highlight and exquisite piece of music.

A "must have".

Europa Galante and Fabio Biondi give a very good performance of the most somber and sadness music they have ever recorded (in my own point of view).

The concertos grossos of Alessandro are very hard to listen on one shot. You got the feeling that this music has been written for funeral parlour. Trully, If tou want to be disturbed on a sunny day, just listen to those shorts cuts in minor. Sadness and bitterness will emerge in your soul and you'll want to put it all in the wardrobe for a while.

In my case, I never listen to this CD except for the little moments of joynness containded in the very short "Sinfonias" of Domenico. The one which gives the most pleasure for the listener is the "Sinfonia in C major" (only 3 minutes 29 seconds...) This entertaining piece will help you to endure the 6 depressing concertos grossos of Allessandro.

This CD has obtained a very good critic by the "revue Diapason" in there rewiew of 2002. When I will become a "connaisseur" I will understand. If I still have it...

There is such a difference in this type of music that compares to no other. It is so uplifting and vital.