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Track(s) taken from CDA67238

Musica grave

composer
arranger

Elizabeth Wallfisch (violin)
Recording details: September 2000
Hessischer Rundfunk-Sendesaal, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
Produced by Udo Wüstendörfer
Engineered by Thomas Eschler
Release date: June 2002
Total duration: 1 minutes 39 seconds
 

Reviews

‘An entertaining recital set down with a winning lightness of touch … Wallfisch’s playing is a model of stylishness, her violin, tuned a tone below modern pitch, producing a mellow, expressive sound’ (Gramophone)

‘Playing of poise and sensitivity’ (The Independent)

‘There’s no questioning the wonderful sound picture, or the indisputable quality of these performances’ (Early Music Review)

‘These are wonderfully inventive additions to the unaccompanied violin repertoire’ (American Record Guide)

‘I hope that a sequel has been planned’ (The Strad)

‘The high quality of the works together with Elizabeth Wallfisch's stylish playing and intelligent programming make this a thoroughly captivating recital’ (Goldberg)
The Neapolitan violinist and composer Nicola Matteis came to England in about 1670, and caused a sensation with his fine technique and fiery performing style. Most of his music appeared in four books of Ayrs for the Violin, published by the composer himself in 1676 and 1685. Matteis designed his violin music so that it could be performed in various ways: violin and continuo, two violins and continuo, and string quartet and continuo (though none of the viola parts have survived). Elizabeth Wallfisch has made solo violin versions of four pieces (the fifth, the Fantasia in B flat major, was originally written for solo violin), mixing richly polyphonic abstract movements with lighter dances.

from notes by Peter Holman © 2002

Le violoniste et compositeur napolitain Nicolas Matteis vint en Angleterre autour de 1670, où sa technique superbe et son style d’exécution enflammé firent sensation. La plupart de son œuvre parut en quatre volumes d’Ayrs for the Violin publiés par le compositeur en personne en 1676 et 1685. Matteis conçut sa musique pour violon afin de pouvoir l’exécuter de plusieurs manières différentes : violon et continuo, deux violons et continuo, quatuor à cordes et continuo (bien qu’aucune des parties d’alto n’ait survécu). Elizabeth Wallfisch a réalisé des versions pour violon seul de quatre pièces (la cinquième, la Fantaisie en si bémol majeur, fut initialement écrite pour violon seul), associant aux mouvements abstraits d’une riche polyphonie, des danses plus légères.

extrait des notes rédigées par Peter Holman © 2002
Français: Isabelle Battioni

Der aus Neapel stammende Geiger und Komponist Nicola Matteis kam etwa 1670 nach England, wo er mit seiner ausgefeilten Technik und feurigem Konzertstil Aufsehen erregte. Ein Großteil seiner Musik erschien in den vier Bänden der Ayrs for the Violin, vom Komponisten selbst in den Jahren 1676 und 1685 herausgegeben. Matteis gestaltete seine Geigenkompositionen so, daß sie auf verschiedene Weise aufgeführt werden konnten: für Geige und Continuo, zwei Geigen und Continuo oder Streichquartett und Continuo (obwohl keine der Bratschenstimmen erhalten blieb). Elizabeth Wallfisch schuf von vier Stücken Fassungen für Sologeige (das fünfte, die Fantasie in b-Moll, war ohnehin für Sologeige komponiert), wobei abstrakte, stark polyphone Sätze mit leichteren Tanzformen abwechseln.

aus dem Begleittext von Peter Holman © 2002
Deutsch: Anne Steeb/Bernd Müller

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