One of the most grown-up review sites around

2020
54,416 reviews
and more.. and still writing ...

Search MusicWeb Here

     
  
 

 

International mailing


 
Founder: Len Mullenger                                    Editor in Chief:John Quinn             


Some items
to consider

new MWI
Current reviews

old MWI
pre-2023 reviews

paid for
advertisements

Acte Prealable Polish recordings

Forgotten Recordings
Forgotten Recordings
All Forgotten Records Reviews

TROUBADISC
Troubadisc Weinberg- TROCD01450

All Troubadisc reviews


FOGHORN Classics

Alexandra-Quartet
Brahms String Quartets

All Foghorn Reviews


All HDTT reviews


Songs to Harp from
the Old and New World


all Nimbus reviews



all tudor reviews


Follow us on Twitter


Editorial Board
MusicWeb International
Founding Editor
   
Rob Barnett
Editor in Chief
John Quinn
Contributing Editor
Ralph Moore
Webmaster
   David Barker
Postmaster
Jonathan Woolf
MusicWeb Founder
   Len Mullenger


 
REVIEW


Advertising on
Musicweb


Donate and keep us afloat

 

New Releases

Naxos Classical
All Naxos reviews

Chandos recordings
All Chandos reviews

Hyperion recordings
All Hyperion reviews

Foghorn recordings
All Foghorn reviews

Troubadisc recordings
All Troubadisc reviews


all cpo reviews

Divine Art recordings
Click to see New Releases
Get 10% off using code musicweb10
All Divine Art reviews


All APR reviews

Lyrita recordings
All Lyrita Reviews

 

Wyastone New Releases
Obtain 10% discount

 

 

alternatively
CD: AmazonUK AmazonUS
Download: Classicsonline


Francesco DURANTE (1684 - 1755)
CD 1
Concerto No. 1 in F minor [13:31]
Concerto No. 2 in G minor [11:48]
Concerto No. 3 in E flat [09:58]
Concerto No. 4 in E minor [10:37]
Concerto No. 5 in A [07:39]
CD 2
Concerto No. 6 in A [09:55]
Concerto No. 7 in C [08:53]
Concerto No. 8 in A 'La Pazzia' [12:48]
Concerto for harpsichord, strings and bc in B flat* [09:28]
Gerald Hambitzer (harpsichord) (*)
Concerto Köln/Werner Ehrhardt
rec. 28-31 May 1990 (CD 1); 28-31 January 1992 (CD 2), Kulturforum, Kempen (Niederrhein), Germany. DDD
PHOENIX EDITION 427 [53:35 + 41:07]

Experience Classicsonline
Francesco Durante is one of the least-known composers of the Italian baroque. His music isn't that often played, in comparison to, for instance, that of Vivaldi. His music is difficult to grasp, as it is so different from what one would expect. In contrast to most of his contemporaries, and in particular those from Naples where Durante worked most of his life, he composed not a single opera. The largest part of his output is sacred, and in addition he wrote various secular cantatas, a considerable amount of keyboard music and some instrumental works.

Durante was born in Frattamaggiore, not far from Naples. Although his father was a woolcomber, he was also a singer in church. Most of his early musical training he probably received from his uncle, Don Angelo Durante, who took care of him when his father died in 1699. Don Angelo was a priest and musician and was primo maestro of the Conservatorio di S Onofrio a Capuana in Naples. In 1728 Francesco became primo maestro of the Conservatorio dei Poveri di Gesů Cristo. Very little is known about his life and activities before that. But the fact that he was elected to this post proves that he was held in high esteem. Among his pupils was Giovanni Battista Pergolesi.

In 1739 he resigned from his post, only to take up the same position at the Conservatorio di S Maria di Loreto in 1742, which he held until his death. Here he had again some famous pupils, including Tommaso Traetta and Antonio Sacchini. In 1745 he was appointed primo maestro at the Conservatorio di S. Onofrio, as the successor of Leonardo Leo.

As a composer he concentrated on writing sacred vocal music. He made some efforts in composing sacred dramas, but these were not received well, and as most of his output in this genre has been lost its quality is difficult to assess. In his church music there are some strongly conservative traits. He wrote several masses in the stile antico, and one of these was called Missa in Palestrina. At the same time his music also reflects the modern fashion, in regard to harmony, the use of chromaticism and dynamics.

These features come also to the fore in the eight so-called 'Concerti per quartetto', for two violins, viola, cello and basso continuo. Whereas most compositions of this kind in Durante's time follow a certain pattern, for instance in the number and order of movements, these Concerti seem to be completely independent of any tradition. The number of movements varies from three to six. The first two concertos begin with a movement in two sections, slow-fast.

Several movements are rooted in the past, like the canons in the Concerto No. 3 (largo staccato, canone amabile) and Concerto No. 6 (canone a tre). The second movement of Concerto No. 4 is even a 'ricercar del quarto tono', a common form of the 16th and 17th centuries. At the same time the concertos are full of expression, in particular in the slow movements, as character indications like 'largo affettuoso' (Concerto No. 2) and 'amoroso' (Concerti Nos. 1 and 6) demonstrate.

There are strong contrasts in character, tempo and dynamics between the various movements within a concerto, and also between the two sections of the first movements of Concertos Nos. 1 and 2. Although Durante's Concerti are unique and not comparable to any other music of his time, the opening presto of Concerto No. 5 could be taken for a piece by Vivaldi. The most remarkable concerto of the set is No. 8, nicknamed 'La Pazza'. This means 'the mad, the insane'. It applies particularly to the first movement, taking more than half the time of the whole concerto. This movement, allegro affettuoso, is like a little opera, as there are various recitative-like passages and some episodes which are reminiscent of a rage aria. I was also thinking here of Locatelli's concerto 'Il pianto d'Arianna' (opus 7,6).

The set concludes with the only solo concerto Durante ever has composed. As he has written many keyboard pieces it is no surprise that it is a harpsichord concerto. It is one of the very few keyboard concertos from the Italian baroque. Two fast movements in which the keyboard player can demonstrate his technical skills, embrace an expressive grave.

It is great that this recording by Concerto Köln is available again. As far as I know it was the very first recording of any of Durante's concertos on disc, and although some concertos from the set have occasionally been played in concert - in particular No. 8 - Durante's music is still barely explored. It is hard to imagine a better performance than that by Concerto Köln. The ensemble was at its very best at the time these concertos were recorded, and all features of these compositions are fully explored. There is no shortage of expression, and the way the eccentricities of the 8th concerto are realised is nothing less than brilliant. Every lover of baroque instrumental music will get a lot of pleasure out of listening to these concertos by a highly original master.

Johan van Veen
 


EXPLORE MUSICWEB INTERNATIONAL

Making a Donation to MusicWeb

Writing CD reviews for MWI

About MWI
Who we are, where we have come from and how we do it.

Site Map

How to find a review

How to find articles on MusicWeb
Listed in date order

Review Indexes
   By Label
      Select a label and all reviews are listed in Catalogue order
   By Masterwork
            Links from composer names (eg Sibelius) are to resource pages with links to the review indexes for the individual works as well as other resources.

Themed Review pages

Jazz reviews

 

Discographies
   Composer
      Composer surveys
   National
      Unique to MusicWeb -
a comprehensive listing of all LP and CD recordings of given works
.
Prepared by Michael Herman

The Collector’s Guide to Gramophone Company Record Labels 1898 - 1925
Howard Friedman

Book Reviews

Complete Books
We have a number of out of print complete books on-line

Interviews
With Composers, Conductors, Singers, Instumentalists and others
Includes those on the Seen and Heard site

Nostalgia

Nostalgia CD reviews

Records Of The Year
Each reviewer is given the opportunity to select the best of the releases

Monthly Best Buys
Recordings of the Month and Bargains of the Month

Comment
Arthur Butterworth Writes

An occasional column

Phil Scowcroft's Garlands
British Light Music articles

Classical blogs
A listing of Classical Music Blogs external to MusicWeb International

Reviewers Logs
What they have been listening to for pleasure

Announcements

 

Community
Bulletin Board

Give your opinions or seek answers

Reviewers
Pat and present

Helpers invited!

Resources
How Did I Miss That?

Currently suspended but there are a lot there with sound clips


Composer Resources

British Composers

British Light Music Composers

Other composers

Film Music (Archive)
Film Music on the Web (Closed in December 2006)

Programme Notes
For concert organizers

External sites
British Music Society
The BBC Proms
Orchestra Sites
Recording Companies & Retailers
Online Music
Agents & Marketing
Publishers
Other links
Newsgroups
Web News sites etc

PotPourri
A pot-pourri of articles

MW Listening Room
MW Office

Advice to Windows Vista users  
Questionnaire    
Site History  
What they say about us
What we say about us!
Where to get help on the Internet
CD orders By Special Request
Graphics archive
Currency Converter
Dictionary
Magazines
Newsfeed  
Web Ring
Translation Service

Rules for potential reviewers :-)
Do Not Go Here!
April Fools






Untitled Document


Reviews from previous months
Join the mailing list and receive a hyperlinked weekly update on the discs reviewed. details
We welcome feedback on our reviews. Please use the Bulletin Board
Please paste in the first line of your comments the URL of the review to which you refer.