Duos

Capella Corelli

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An extraordinary setting befits the extraordinary music performed by the duo of Ruth Wilkinson (recorders and bass viola da gamba) and Cynthia O’Brien (baroque violin), known in musical circles as Capella Corelli.

Exploring two-part music from the late 17th and early 18th centuries, Capella Corelli recorded this long awaited repertoire of duets in the marvellous acoustic of Santa Maria Nuova, the 16th century church designed by Georgio Vasari that sits proudly on a Tuscan hill just outside the walls of Cortona, Italy. The high ceilings and thick stone walls and floors create a living memory of the past, whilst the challenging acoustic implores suitable tempi and articulation within the reverent and reverberant ambience of the church. Not for the meek - Wilkinson and O’Brien rise to the challenge of this glorious setting with grace and aplomb.

The music itself, duets by Blavet, Boismortier, Patoni and Telemann, demands the skills required for two-part compositions to be performed as a shared conversation between two old and close friends - which O’Brien and Wilkinson surely are. There is great beauty in these duets, humour and disagreement, respect, melancholy dancing and sheer joy. The album is full of variety and surprises.

Track Listing:

Joseph Bodin Boismortier: Sonata in A major, Op. 51: No. 5

Georg Philipp Telemann: Duetto for alto recorder and violin

Joseph Bodin Boismortier: Sonate in D major, Op. 51: No. 3

Michel Blavet: Prelude de M. Blavet [flûte de voix and violin]

Michel Blavet: Minuet de M. Geminiani, gracieusement [violin and bass de viole]

Michel Blavet: Gavotte de Corelli [violin and bass de viole]

Michel Blavet: Gavotte de M Handel, gracieusement [soprano recorder and violin]

Giuseppe Battista Patoni: Sonata a due for recorder and violin in G major, Op. 2: No. 3

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Move Records 1CD
MCD 614