Tartini: Trio Sonatas Il Demetrio & Maurizio Schiavo

• Giuseppe Tartini (1692 - 1770): Trio Sonata in G Major, G01:
• 1 Tartini: Trio Sonata in G Major, G01: I. Andante 04:01
• 2 Tartini: Trio Sonata in G Major, G01: II. Allegro Assai 01:58
• Trio Sonata in A Major, A02:
• 3 Tartini: Trio Sonata in A Major, A02: I. Andantino 02:56
• 4 Tartini: Trio Sonata in A Major, A02: II. Allegro 01:59
• Trio Sonata in D Major, D01:
• 5 Tartini: Trio Sonata in D Major, D01: I. Allegro 04:48
• 6 Tartini: Trio Sonata in D Major, D01: II. Andante 03:25
• 7 Tartini: Trio Sonata in D Major, D01: III. Allegro 01:49
• Trio Sonata in A Major, A06:
• 8 Tartini: Trio Sonata in A Major, A06: I. Andante 06:46
• 9 Tartini: Trio Sonata in A Major, A06: II. Allegro 04:16
• Trio Sonata in D Minor, D01:
• 10 Tartini: Trio Sonata in D Minor, D01: I. Andantino 02:54
• 11 Tartini: Trio Sonata in D Minor, D01: II. Allegro 02:06
• Trio Sonata in A Major, A03:
• 12 Tartini: Trio Sonata in A Major, A03: I. Andante 03:28
• 13 Tartini: Trio Sonata in A Major, A03: II. Allegro 02:24
• Trio Sonata in A Minor, A01:
• 14 Tartini: Trio Sonata in A Minor, A01: I. Andante Cantabile 03:54
• 15 Tartini: Trio Sonata in A Minor, A01: II. Allegro Assai 03:35
• Trio Sonata in A Major, A01:
• 16 Tartini: Trio Sonata in A Major, A01: I. Allegro Assai 01:54
• 17 Tartini: Trio Sonata in A Major, A01: II. Andante 01:35
• 18 Tartini: Trio Sonata in A Major, A01: III. Allegro Assai 02:12
• Total Runtime 56:00

Info for Tartini: Trio Sonatas

With 37 confirmed trio sonatas to his credit, Giuseppe Tartini is the most important Italian composer of his generation for this type of repertoire. It may seem odd therefore that these works have been so sorely neglected; indeed, as of 2022 only around 20 per cent of the repertoire had been recorded and a critical edition had yet to be published. This state of affairs was largely due to confusion regarding sources, with many divergent interpretations and uncertainties regarding the dates of the handwritten scores. Some order has been brought to this originally chaotic situation by the research carried out by Juan Mariano Porta from 2018 to 2022 as part of his doctoral studies, the result of which was the inclusion of the trio sonatas in the upcoming publications of the Edizione Nazionale delle Opere di Giuseppe Tartini, with advance materials made available to the Il Demetrio ensemble for recording.

Giuseppe Tartini dedicated almost all his energy to his chosen instrument, the violin. His established corpus of works currently numbers 200 sonatas for violin and bass, 150 violin concertos, 37 trio sonatas, a handful of concertos for other instruments, and a small number of quartet sonatas and vocal compositions. Production of the trio sonatas began in the composer’s late-mature years, and their style would seem to correspond to Tartini’s final compositional period, described as a Drang nach absoluter Musik [urge for absolute music], which began around 1750 without a clear line of demarcation from what came before and continued until the composer’s death. The trend was towards simplicity, partly deriving from Tartini’s desire to put his theoretical speculations into practice. The trio sonatas no longer feature the virtuoso passages of earlier works. They present a binary form with regular phrasing. Their harmonic rhythm is slow, with the violins mainly proceeding in parallel triplets. The function of the bass is relegated one of harmonic support.

This recording contains the sonatas G1, D1, d1, A1, A2, A3, A6, and a1, which date to Tartini’s final compositional sub-period. They are little-known pieces, most of them hitherto unpublished.

The Italian group Il Demetrio is dedicated to explore hidden treasures from the Baroque, having discovered and performed works by Mysliveček, Rolla, Cagnoni and others. They collaborated with famous soloists like Giovanni Sollima and Avi Avital. They previously issued a recording of the 4-part Sonatas by Tartini, to great critical acclaim.

Il Demetrio
Maurizio Schiavo, violin

Il Demetrio
ensemble founded in Pavia by Maurizio Schiavo, is one of the most lively and successful experiments in the Italian music panorama. The ensemble is specialized in baroque music and it stands out for its musicological research and for performing hitherto unknown works of the Italian repertoire. Among these rediscovered works, the opera Il Demetrio by J. Myslivecek; the Dixit Dominus, for soloists, choir and orchestra and the Tantum ergo, for bass, viola concertante and orchestra by A. Rolla; and Tre composizioni per la Settimana Santa (Adoramus te, Miserere e Christus factus est) for choir and string orchestra by A. Cagnoni. Il Demetrio ensemble is also dedicated to more recent repertoire, often suggesting curious and unusual programs (such as Paesaggi sonori, a collection of scores for silent lms by F. Vittadini, a composer and conductor born in Pavia) and organizing special events such as Lennon barocco, a concert programme featuring the most famous hits by the ex-Beatle John Lennon revisited in baroque fashion.

Maurizio Schiavo
took up musical studies in Ferrara, his birthplace, where he was initiated to the Violin by G. Adamo. After graduating with full marks under the guidance of S. Cicero, he studied baroque violin with E. Gatti, baroque viola and viola d’amore with M. Righini, composition with E. Sollima and with N. Castiglioni at the Milan Conservatory, where he graduated also in orchestral conducting (with G. Taverna) and opera conducting (with U. Cattini). With the ensemble Il Demetrio, which he founded, he performs baroque and classical repertoires, performing both as conductor and soloist. In additon, Maurizio Schiavo is also involved in musicological research. He has edited and performed works by B. M. Meda, A. Draghi, F. Corselli, J. A. Hasse, J. Myslivecek, G. B. Fioroni, A. Cagnoni and A. Rolla. He has contributed to a number of recordings both as instrumentalist and conductor, among which, as conductor, the rst recording of the Arie per soprano e orchestra (Il Quaderno dell’Imperatrice) by Farinelli and the Mottetti per alto e archi by J. A. Hasse. Maurizio Schiavo was artistic director of Armonie sul lago, a festival devoted to the rediscovery of Italian sacred and profane music of the 18th century.

Booklet for Tartini: Trio Sonatas