Giuseppe Tartini:
Sonata in G-minor
"The Devil's Sonata"
Sonata in A-minor
Variations on a Gavotte
by Corelli
Andrew Manze, violin
(authentic baroque instrument)
1998. Harmonia Mundi
France HMU 907213 full price
Italian baroque music is not, generally speaking, something that makes my day. I've always had an aversion againt what I have percieved as sillyness or mere etudes in decoration; terms I feel frequently can be used as descriptions of certain baroque pieces, Italian or not. After having been listening a while to American violinist Andrew Manze I am, however, inclined to modify my somewhat dogmatic statements. There is nothing shallow about neither Tartini's score, nor Andrew Manze's delicate and colouristic treatment of it. Or atleast one could say that if there are less substantial aspects of Tartini's music it doesn't bother me - at all! I am, on the contrary, all in awe over Manze's original and intelligent approach to the source of these works.
The variety of colour and nuance, combined with attention for the most minute of details, makes the Devil's sonata into a journey through a soundscape of incredible depth. So rich is Andre Manze's tone, and so well serving is his virtuosity, that one is given the sensation of floating through a stream of music as etheric and translucent as it is potent and raw.
The composer himself, evidently fascinated by diabolical rather than divine inspiration, gives a slightly pretentious, yet amusing account of the Faustian origin of the work.
One night I dreamt that I had made a pact wih the devil: he was my servant, and anticipated my every wish... I found myself handing him my violin to see if he might manage some pretty tunes; but imagine my astonishment when I heard a sonata so unusual and so beautiful, performed with such mastery and intelligence, on a level I had never before concieved was possible! I was so overcome that I stopped breathing and awoke gasping. Immediately I seized my violin, hoping to recall some shred of I had just heard - but in vain. The piece I then composed is without doubt my best, and I still call it the Devil's sonata, but it falls so far short of the one that stunned me that I would have smashed my violin and given up music forever if I could but possess it.
The Devil's sonata is coupled with a vibrant and sensitive account of "Variations on a Gavotte by Corelli". These are wonderful miniature thematic aspects of the Gavotte and along with the "Sonata in A-minor", they provide some great listening.
© 1999 Arne.Mork@hum.uit.no
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