No, not Henry Mancini -
Francesco Mancini, so no Pink Panthers to
be found here. This is a substantial collection of sonatas published in
London in 1724 and further evidence of the fashion for Italian music in the
English capital in the days of King George I and George Frederic Handel.
Each consisting of four movements, these
Sonatas follow the model
established by Corelli. They have plenty of Neapolitan influence, with
minor-key slow movement moods and the kind of vocal melodic style which
would have been familiar to opera audiences of the time.
The musicians of Tempesta di Mare have been recording this kind of
repertoire for many years, and you may have come across their
Lute
Concerti of Silvius Leopold Weiss (see
review), orchestral music of Johann Friedrich Fasch (see
review) or cantatas and chamber music of Alessandro Scarlatti
(see
review). Mancini's
Solos for a flute may not shake
your world to its foundations, but there is good fun to be had in the
variety brought to the instrumentation in these performances. The final
Allegro spicatto of
Sonata IV has quite a swinging
pizzicato from the cello for instance, the contrast between recorder and
traverso between
Sonata X and
Sonata XII is subtle but
distinctive, and the gentler plucking of a theorbo over a small organ gives
the more percussive sound of the harpsichord a rest in
Sonata XI.
I'm more a fan of the traverso than the recorder, but Gwyn Roberts's
delightfully expressive playing convinces in both. If you are wondering what
a 'voice flute' is then it is same as a recorder both in looks and sound,
though larger - the name apparently referring to its range, which is
comparable to that of a soprano singer.
The Chandos recording is up to the usual very high standard, with masses
of detail and a nice sense of space and atmosphere. Booklet notes by Guido
Olivieri are very good and supplied in English, German and French. There
aren't many discs of Francesco Mancini's music around, though there are a
few competitors, such as Tripla Concordia on the Brilliant Classics label
(see
review) which has all 12 recorder sonatas but a less appealing
vibrato from the recorder player. This selection from Tempesta di Mare is a
very nice way to fill a gap in anyone's collection.
Dominy Clements
