Andrea Coen - 100 Menuets TWV 34 1-100 - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

Andrea Immer - Famous Piano Works [COMPACT DISCS] date 02/15/1994

Born in Bologna, Giovanni Battista Vitali (1632-1692) spent all his life between his birth city and Modena, where he moved in 1674. There is something noteworthy in this geography of the composer Vitali's move from Bologna, then part of the Papal States under the administration of Rome, to the smaller but significantly more secular and artistically stimulating Modena, under the rule of the splendid Este family, is suggestive of a desire to achieve greater expressive freedom. Artificii Musicali (Modena, 1689) has given Vitali a respectable place in music history, particularly if one considers the oft supposed idea that it served as inspiration for J.S. Bach's Musical Offering, J. Fux's Gradus ad Parnassum (1725) and G.B. Martini's Saggio Fondamentale Pratico di Contrappunto sopra il Canto Fermo (1774). Vitali's Artificii Musicali appeared at a historical crossroad, during the final decades of the 17th century, when there was an explosive rise in instrumental music. There are 40 canons in this work and interspersed among them there are 4 that can be classified as riddle-canons or enigma-canons. These intriguing pieces are accompanied by a brief Latin motto containing the key for their realization, which is left to the reader to decipher (of note, Bach also included two riddle-canons with Latin mottos in the Musical Offering). The final 9 pieces in the Artificii are an eclectic collection of balletti, capricci, a passagallo, and 2 violin sonatas, representative of the main forms of instrumental music at the end of the 17th century. Although Artificii was originally written for violin and bass, Andrea Coen performs here on a harpsichord, and furthermore a harpsichord in equal temperament.

In 1716 Telemann published a new collection of chamber music, designed for violin or flute or oboe with basso continuo accompaniment. He aimed his dedication not towards a noble patron, but at several important musicians of the time, demonstrating a new, proud self-image of the artists among themselves. The composer himself authorized performance of them on the keyboard alone, and so Andrea Coen has taken Telemann at his word and made his own lively arrangements. Each partita consists of a prelude and six brief dances or arias. Despite such seemingly formal uniformity, the cycle of Kleine Kammermusik contains a wealth of ideas, and it is not without reason that Telemann later recycled much of it's melodic material thus we may find here his musical world in miniature. In a short space we find French rondos and chaconnes, reminiscent of the affettuoso style of the Italian trio sonata, chromatic songs of lamentation and dances such as the Minuet, the Jig, the Gavotte and the Passepied. Andrea Coen is an organist, harpsichordist, and fortepianist, who has studied with such distinguished artists as Ton Koopman and Alan Curtis, and has collaborated with such figures as Christopher Hogwood and Monica Huggett. His recordings of Baroque and early-Classical keyboard repertoire for Brilliant Classics have attracted glowing reviews. Coen made the first complete recording of Telemann's Fantasias (94228). According to MusicWeb International 'Coen, an experienced, insightful instrumentalist with a profound knowledge of historical performance practice and a sackful of important recordings under his belt, could make Telemann sound special even on a typewriter.'