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Chiara Cattani - Roberto Noferini
Bach
The six sonatas for violin and harpsichord
Chiara Cattani - Roberto Noferini
Bach
The six sonatas for violin and harpsichord
The album
The six Sonatas à I Cembalo [con}certoto è /Violino solo, col I Basso per Viola da Gamba accompagnata I se piaceN BWV 1014-1019 carne to life in the years that Johann Sebastian Bach spent in Kothen, between theendof 1717 andthe beginning of 1723while servingPrince Leopold.Once hewas completely free from his ecclesiastical duties, Bach was able to dedicate himself to instrumental music. lt was in this period that the composer wrote the Brandenburg Concertos too Many years later, however, some of his Sonatas were reworked: the fifth was altered in part butthegreatestoverhaul was in theSixth,thechangesof which willbe analysed here. Despite admitting that the modifications were carri ed out at a later date, Bach considered these Sonatas as a collection and this is seen in its global conception which encompasses them all. Although the composer suggests how the pieces can be performed, that is to say, doubling up the part of the bass correspond i ng to the left hand of the harpsichord with the viola da gamba, actually these Sonatas work perfectly without, since they work together as a true Trio Sonata in which the violin and the right hand of the harpsichord are the two soprano voices and the left hand is the bass. The composer's rigorous and impeccably constructed counterpo int treats the three voices equally, in a continuous exchange of ideas. Each element, more or lessthematic, flows in its fullness and awareness of the harmonic depth and at the same time develops its phrasing horizontally. Sometimes the voice of the bass is entrusted with the function of a bearingaxis, making up a harmonic column. The symbiosis that has to be generated between the violin and the harpsichord, two instruments that are ontologically so different, is huge. The task that awaits the performers is one of the most arduous since they must overcome the characteristics and any limitations of each instrument to be able to bond with the other. lt is for precisely this reason that the violin works as a third hand for the harpsichord player, it brings the quality of it s sound close to the plucking of the string, and the harpsichord craves to sing and communicate better with the string instrument.
Johann Sebastian Bach's chamber production is a drop in the ocean of his opera omnia, an estimated 4%, including the Sonatas for viola da gamba and harpsichord and those for flute and harpsichord. Yet, in these Sonatas, Bach manages to unite the past, the present and to anticipate the musical future. lndeed here he admirably creates a sort of compendium of all styles and more generally of the European musical culture t hat preceded him, and of his contemporaries, as well as bringing perceptible novelty. The violin is treated as a solo with great attention and, thanks to these Sonatas, Bach researches and exploits its potential, while, a r eal German violin style did not yet exist. But that is notali. The new type of Sonata that he developed no longer has anything to do with the conception of the melodie instrument accompanied by the keyboard as a figured bass and thus mainly harmonic. The indication of the harpsichord above and beyond the melodie instrument that we find in the title, is therefore a great novelty given the custom of the time and denotes the role of the harpsichord, which is no longer relegated to accompaniment, as established in its own right, a true co-star. This formula was decisive for the future and it led many other composers to try it, firstly with his childre n Cari Philip Emanuel and Johann Chri stian, and later with Mondonville, Rameau, Giardini, Schobert, Sarti, Boccherini and many others. The well -known Sonatas for historical piano and violin by Mozart and Beethoven have their roots right here. Bach also dedicated himself to the composition of someSonatas for violin and figured bass during his stay in Kòthen. From an architectural point ofview of the Sonatas, the first five follow the model of the Church Sonata, wit h the alternation of four agogically different movements (slow, fast, slow, fast): Bach expl ores within them a very high number of compositional forms. Fugue-style movements are prevalent, but there is no shortage of dances, such as the Siciliana (first tempo of Sonata IV), a solo movement for violin with ltalian-style drops (first movement of Sonata lii), Canons (the slow movements of Sonata Il ), a Passacaglia (third movement of Sonata 111) and even a movement in which the harpsichord improvises a fluent demisemiquaver run and the vio lin takes on the role of figured bass (third movement of Sonata V). The opening movement is homogeneous, with the exception of the only dance, the aforementioned Siciliana. The singing voice rings out thanks to the many melismatic bursts. This is where we can let the wonderful, unannounced, unassuming expressivity of the greatest composer shine .
The counterpoint style is evident in the second half, as it gently permeates even the slow movements, characterised as realFugues or Trios in a Fugue style, but in which two types can stili be distinguished: first of all the true Fugues, beginning with the subject enunciated first by one of the two high voices then by the second, and finally moving onto the bass,and the second,the Concerto "Allegro", which follows the style of the fastmovements of Antonio Vivaldi's Concertos,withthesimultaneous entry of all the voices, and the alternating sectio ns of all parts with sections of Solo. The third movement is stili characterised by the modification of the tonai system; as we said before, every slow movement is an opportunity for Bach to explore a compositional form.
Again the last movement is a Fugue or a Trio in a Fugue style and it falls into the two types described for the second movements, although distinguishing it self more forthe dancing performance. The Sonata VI is to be considered separately. Three versions were written, the first belongs to the Kòthen period, the next two to the Leipzig period, one in the early years of Thomaskantor's leadership (the artistic director of Thomanerchor) and one in the last few years of stay in this city. Of the seven manuscripts for this Sonata, four present the third version, to be considered therefore most likely to be the definitive one. Only the first two movements are in common between the first and the last version. Of the remaining three, two, a "Cantabile, ma un poco Adagio" and an "Adagio" are replaced by one piece for solo harpsichord and another Adagio, while the last movement is the r epetition of the first, as the manuscript reports the wording Ab initio repetot et claudat. The peculiarity of the second draft is that the piece for solo harpsichord corresponds to the Courante of the Si xth Partita in E minor for harpsichord BWV 830. The last movement , on the other hand, is the reworking of the Gavotte from the same Partita, adapted to the violin accompanied by the harpsichord as the fi gured bass. The presence of a movement for the solo harpsichord within a chamber sonata is a gem in the repertoire of any era; it is characterised by being in the form of a binary dance. The scheme of the ent ire sonata is not attributab l e to that of the Ch urch Sonata, but to the Chamber Sonata: the movements are therefore five and the alternation is fastslow -fast-slow -fast.
The artist
Chiara Cattani
She graduated with top marks and honors at the Piano Course, at the Harpsichord Course (with honorable mention) in Choral Conducting and at the Fortepiano Course. She completed her training at the harpsichord at the Mozarteum University in Salzburg, where she obtained the Post Graduate Harpsichord Degree. She studied piano under Denis Zardi, Pier Narciso Masi and Kostantin Bogino, harpsichord under Silvia Rambaldi, Luigi Ferdinando Tagliavini and Florian Birsak and fortepiano under Stefano Fiuzzi. Awarded in several national and international competitions, she has an intense concert activity that has already brought her to perform in severa[ concerts in ltaly, France, England, Austria, Germany, Russia, Spain, lsrael, Pal est ine, USA and Japan, as a soloist on the harpsichord and fortepiano, harpsichordist in chamber ensembles, soloist with orchestra, and pianist in chamber ensembles. Particularly relevant is her artistic activity with violinist Roberto Noferini since 2009, in which she alternates the threeinstruments. Her intense recording activities includes the complete Sonatas for historical keyboards and the chamber music production by G. Sarti for the record label "Tactus", and the Sonate op. Il for violin and basso continuo by G.B.Somis. Recently published is a double CD devoted to J.A. Hasse for the label "Concerto Classics", with all the harpsichord production composed in ltaly, which is getting important recognition from critics (S stars CD for Amadeus Magazine, S stars CO last June 2019 for Musica Magazine). She is now Professor of Harpsichord and Historical Keyboards at the Conservatory in Benevento, accompanist of the baroque department at the Conservatory in Bolzano and of the baroque singers class at the Conservatory in Lecce. She is musical assistent at the Ancient Music Festival in lnnsbruck and works regularly as "Maestro Collaboratore", "Maestro ai Recitativi" playing harpsichord and fortepiano, in important italian and european Theaters (Teatro Sociale in Bergamo, Teatro Regio in Torino, Staatsoper in Hamburg, Festspielhaus in Baden Baden, Mozarteum in Salzburg) . She collaborates with prestigious Orchestras, like Academia Montis Regalis, lnnsbrucker Festwochen Orchester, Freiburger Barock orchester. In the artistic field,she boasts musicalcollaborations with E.Onofri, O.Gaillard, O.Centurioni, G.BanditeUi, G.Belfiori Doro, M. Valli,C.Rossi,S.Prina, S. Montanari, D. Oberlinger, E. Gubanska, Y. Revich, L. Marzadori, F. Dego, A. Dulbest en, L. Cavasanti, A. Helm. She regutarly plays with mezzosoprano Arianna Lanci and celio player Verena Laxgang, collaborates with several chamberistic ensembles playing on historical instruments and deepens the repertoire for harpsichord four hands together with Silvia Rambaldi. She graduated in History of the Ancient World with honors with a dissertation on Papyrology. She is the artistic director of the Summer musical masterclasses "Marco Allegri" in Faenza, in which she teaches piano and harpsichord.
The artist
Roberto Noferini
Sine his début at the age of 12 at the Teatro Comunale in Bologna, he has carried out a very intense concert activity at prestigious festivals and for important concert associations all over the world. He graduateci in violin with honours from the Milan Conservatory "Verdi" under G. Baffero; later, he was able to perfect his skills with A. Grumiaux, S. Accardo, C. Romano. He also studied baroque music with R. Goebel, E. Gatti, F. Birsak and S. Rambaldi. Hewon several first prizes and special awards at important international competitions ("Postacchini"in Fermo,"Lipizer" Competition in Gorizia,"Perosi" in Biella). He played many concerts all over Europe, performing Baroque and Classical repertory with violin and Baroque bow, together with Chiara Cattani as harpsichordist and fortepianist: in their artistic activity, very important are several CDs recorded for the italian label Tactus with the complete works for violin and harpsichord by G. Sarti and the Twelve Sonatas op. 2 by G.B. Somis. His recording of 24 Capricci for solo violin by Paganini, for the first time with baroque bow, always for the label "Tactus" reached in a very few time a big success. Moreover, he recorded two CDs for the Bongiovanni label together with the pianist B. Canino (Sonatas by Busoni and Morceaux by Bazzini), and severaI other CDs for Tactus, Trios by Bossi and the two Concerts for violin and orchestra by Pugnani. In 2000 he founded the SchuberTrio. Since then, he has performed in several chamber concerts, always getting remarkable appreciation of public and criticism. Described by many critics as one of the most brilliant violinists of his generation, he has played as soloist in some of the most renowned violin concerts and has played in chamber ensembles together with B. Canino, S.Accardo, M. Quarta, I. Faust, C. Rossi, B. Giuranna, D. Zardi, A.Pay. Roberto Noferini concentrates on contemporary repertory and has collaborateci with L. Berto, S. Sciarrino, G. Petrassi, N. Castigliani, R. Cacciala, G. Manzoni, and B. Bettinelli: he also played solo violin in various poetry readings with P. Gassman, A. Foà, U. Pagliai, G. Giannini. He currently teaches violin at the lnstitute of Advanced Music Studies "Pergolesi" in Fermo and gives master classes in Faenza ("Corso di Perfezionamento Violinistico estivo M. Allegri"), where he also is artistic director. Roberto Noferini was honoured as Knight of the Order of Saint Agatha by the Republic of San Marino for high artistic and culturaI achievements. For this recording, he plays on a Don Nicola Amati historical violin dateci between 1720 and 1730, with gut strings.