Search - Giovanni Sollima, Arianna Art Ensmeble, Monika Leskovar :: Giovanni Battista Costanzi: Sonate per violoncello

The inspired decision by cellist and composer Giovanni Sollima to investigate the instrumental music of his eighteenth-century counterpart, Giovanni Battista Costanzi, is yielding its first recording with a new Glossa release of cello sonatas. Costanzis place in the history of the cello has all but slipped from view and yet his solo cello sonatas display a remarkable freshness in handling the late Baroque sonata genre as instigated by Arcangelo Corelli. They also impose substantial technical demands upon the soloist including playing in the instruments highest register making powerful use of the cellos expressive capabilities. Five sonatas scored for cello and continuo have been selected by Giovanni Sollima for this recording, the first to assess this aspect of the Roman composers output. Not content with attending to Costanzis works Giovanni Sollima composes one of his own Il mandataro which reflects the labours of an apparently marginal member of the Roman court in the time of Costanzis patron, Cardinal Ottoboni: a courier or messenger charged with keeping the musicians informed of their duties. Sollima, who has previously recorded Neapolitan cello concertos for Glossa (backed by Antonio Florio and I Turchini), is joined for this new recording by fellow cellist Monika Leskovar (a pair of the sonatas are for two cellos) and the Arianna Art Ensemble. Scholar Imma Battista supplies pertinent biographical information for this overlooked Baroque composer.