More Geminiani: Cello Sonatas
Fine performances of fine Baroque music
We previously met Lucca-born Francesco Geminiani (1687-1762) on a disc on Glossa's “Cabinet” label, a set of superb performance software the composer's Op. 2 Concerti grossi. That was in 2020, and revisiting the disc, the delight and sense of discovery remains.
So here's more from Geminiani's pen, but now Sonatas for Cello and Basso continuo, Op. 5.
The line-up here is fabulous: Kristin von der Glotz is the superb solo cells, but worth noting the continuo includes Hille Perl on viola da gamba, who impressed so much in a concerto spotlighting mandolinist Avi Avital at Gstaad in 2023 (read my report on that year's festival for Classical Music magazine, where I described Perl as “masterly, her presence deep and wise”) .
Moe, the Geminiani Sonatas (Nos. 1-6) are interspersed by pieces by Silvius Leopold Weiss (1687-1750); for a superb single disc of his music, try that by Joachim Held on Haenssler of Weiss' early lute works.
What a combination though! Geminiani is a Baoque composer who is difficult to pigeon-hole, something with Donald J. Grout seems less impressed about Geminiani, accusing his music of being “pallid” and saying it lacks individuality. Another reading is to suggest that there is a huge range of invention in his music, and cellist Kristin von der Goltz (currently professor at Frankfurt's Hochschüle, and a student of William Pleeth) brings it all out. She specialises in Baroque performance and performance practice, as one can easily hear on his recording. the expressive way with suspensions, the harmonic sensitivity, It is all here in the first movement of the first sonata (A-Major, H 103):
... but it is in the third movement that real depth is achieved, leaving it to the final Allegro to dispel the clouds::
A place of extreme tranquility follows: Weiss' Prelude in D-Minor, beautifully played by Thomas C. Boysen. It leads into the first movement of the Sonata No. 2 (also D-Minor) beautifully. In her explicatory booklet note, von der Goltz explains that she treats each sonata as a world unto its own and approaches each differently, some wih full ornamentation, some less so. Certainly the Andante opening to the Second Suite is full of elaborate ornamentation:
In keeping with the increased complexity, contrasts are more marked here: try between the Presto second movement and he profundity of the Adagio:
It is, I think testament to Geminani's genius that he opts not for a finale of show, but an Allegro of restrained cogitation:
The Weiss Preludes always match the key of the sonata that follows. here we pop over to C-Major; 1"20 of pure perfection, not a note wasted, the whole perfectly sculpted, leading into a sonata movement of new Akkeft, markedly gracioso. But it is not long before Geminiani's imaginative “tweaks” to what one might expect make themselves known:
The Sonata in B flat begins with a stately Andante which promises to expand into a full movement, but turns out to be prefaratory to a gently-mannered Allegro moderato. This all links nicely to the Weiss Prelude in E-Major, a plateau of gentleness from Bysen:
The world of the Adagio third movement of Gminiani's Sonata No. 5 seems a elated world: cello and harpsichord here, not in basso continuo mode, but very much with a mind of its own, beautifully played by Andreas Küppers:
The fifth sonata is crowned by a mobile Allegro. Again, no Weiss interludium, but on to the final Sonata on the disc the A-Minor. The Adagio opening (46 seconds) is rich indeed, helped by fuller continuo section. Only there movement here, There seems to be distinct moments of Baroque cello duet in the Allegro assai (the continuo cellist is Dangel):
This disc presents fine performances of fine Baroque music. The actual pieces are far more varied than one might perhaps think, and the varied instrumental approach by the performers also bings variety to the experience.
This wonderful disc is available at Amazon here; the Weiss Haaessler disc is available here. Streaming below.
