CDH55005 - Disc 1 Track 16 - Concerto per quartetto No 1 in F minor

Concerto per quartetto No 1 in F minor

composer

Francesco Durante (1684-1755)

Recordings

Concertos for the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies

European Union Chamber Orchestra, Eivind Aadland (conductor)

Buy by post £6.99 CDH55005 Helios (Hyperion's budget label)

Details

Movement 1: Un poco andante

European Union Chamber Orchestra, Eivind Aadland (conductor)

Track 16 on CDH55005 [2'00] Helios (Hyperion's budget label)

Movement 2: Allegro

European Union Chamber Orchestra, Eivind Aadland (conductor)

Track 17 on CDH55005 [1'34] Helios (Hyperion's budget label)

Movement 3: Andante

European Union Chamber Orchestra, Eivind Aadland (conductor)

Track 18 on CDH55005 [2'28] Helios (Hyperion's budget label)

Movement 4: Amoroso

European Union Chamber Orchestra, Eivind Aadland (conductor)

Track 19 on CDH55005 [2'36] Helios (Hyperion's budget label)

Movement 5: Allegro

European Union Chamber Orchestra, Eivind Aadland (conductor)

Track 20 on CDH55005 [1'38] Helios (Hyperion's budget label)

Concerto per quartetto No 1 in F minor

EnglishFrançaisDeutschItaliano

Francesco Durante (born Frattamaggiore 1684, died Naples 1755) was a pupil of Alessandro Scarlatti at the Conservatorio di San Onofrio, but also studied at Rome under Pasquini. His compositions combine the severe style of the Roman school with the melodic imagination of the Neapolitan. Most of his works are sacred, many surviving only in manuscript, and during his life little was published. Yet this F minor Concerto Grosso fully reveals Durante’s talents, and indeed bears comparison with the best examples of Handel and Corelli. Each movement captures a mood by the tension of unexpected harmonies and instrumental colours. Already the opening chromaticisms are ominous, then the double fugue is vivid in its rhythms and sequences. The mood of the fourth movement is plaintively romantic in its use of a solo quartet and the finale, while simple in texture, is rich in tension.