Geminiani was a virtuoso
violinist who studied composition in
Rome with Corelli and Alessandro Scarlatti
before travelling around Europe, spending
eighteen years in London and eventually
settling in Ireland. He is best known
for several sets of Concerti Grossi
(which can be sampled on two excellent
Naxos discs – 8.553019 and 8.553020)
but also wrote sonatas for his own instrument
or the cello. This disc presents the
six sonatas Op.5 for cello and bass
continuo which were first published
in Paris in 1746. Little seems to be
known about their origins. Geminiani
recycled some of his music and, interspersed
between the sonatas, are various pieces
for solo harpsichord, some of which
are reworkings of material he had used
previously.
Each of the first five
sonatas is in four movements and follows
a basic slow-fast-slow-fast pattern,
the last omits the second slow movement.
We are not overburdened with late baroque
cello sonatas and these are splendidly
imaginative works, on a par with those
of Vivaldi. The second and sixth, both
in minor keys, plumb considerable emotional
depths and are perhaps the finest.
In the booklet, cellist
Alison McGillivary tells us that she
is taking a long holiday from playing
on metal strings. Here she plays a baroque
cello dating from around 1715, the other
instruments are recently made copies.
Pitch is set at A=415Hz. She offers
sensitive, committed playing and is
very well-accompanied. Indeed David
McGuinness’s harpsichord frequently
sparkles and is balanced to be almost
an equal partner. In the solo works
he is also on top form and it is particularly
interesting to hear the fourth cello
sonata reworked in this way. There are
excellent notes on the music by Alison
McGillivary and the recording is dedicated
to her teacher, Jennifer Ward Clarke.
This disc is the first
I have heard from the Scottish company
Linn, whose audio systems have an excellent
reputation. It is an SACD hybrid but
I have only listened in standard CD
stereo format, in which it sounds absolutely
first-rate.
In summary, this is
high quality playing and production
of rarely heard music by a composer
yet underestimated by history, and it
would be well worth seeking out.
Patrick C Waller