Bruno Cocset & Les Basses Réunies - Evaristo e Joseph Dall'Abaco "Padre e figlio" - Capricci & Altri Canzoni (2013)

This recording is devoted to two Italian composers, Father and son, who in many ways were typical of the 18th-century artist: trained by the finest teachers, leaving their native land in pursuit of their careers while nevertheless upholding its musical traditions [nourished and enriched by many influences, including French] and acting as its ambassadors in other parts of Europe. Evaristo, the father, is the better known, born 1675, he may have trained with Gasparo Gasparini in Verona, before meeting Torelli. He was part of the retinue of the Prince-Elector of Bavaria, Maximilian Il Emanuel, a famous and extravagant patron of the arts and followed him to Brussels, after defeat in the War of the Spanish Succession. Dall'Abaco's first opus was published in Amsterdam and many of the pieces recorded here are from that collection. Joseph Marie Clément Dall'Abaco was one of Evaristo's four children ann made his name as a cellist with a long career of some renown. The family continued to follow Maximilian: from Rambouillet, Versailles, Compiègne, Luxembourg and his return to Munich. Evaristo was rewarded for his loyalty with the appointment as Konzertmeister of the newly reconstituted court orchestra in Munich. He sent his son to Venice to further his musical education and on his return Joseph became director of the court chamber orchestra and councillor to Clemens August I of Bavaria at Bonn, a position which allowed him the freedom to perform in major European centres including London. Dall'Abaco figlio composed mostly cello sonatas. Whilst illustrating the new galant and pre-Classical styles, some of his works also retain the gravity of Baroque and the expansive melodic style inherited from his father. Almost 40 of his sonatas are now preserved in the British Library. The pieces presented here, however, are the eleven 'Capricci del sig. Giuseppe Barone Dall'Abaco' from an unfinished manuscript from the library of the Conservatorio Giuseppe Verdi in Milan. These virtuoso Capricci are played on a new instrument, strung just a fortnight before this recording by Charles Riché. The pieces by his father, Evaristo, are played on 'mature' instruments with a more mellow sound.