SKU: BT.YE0009
Very little is known about the two sonatas which appear here in their original keys. They were placed in the library of the Music School in Oxford at the end of the seventeenth century in a form convenient for playing (i.e.unbound). The library was catalogued by Hake between 1850 and 1855 and the sonatas were eventually bound in 1855 with other instrumental and vocal manuscripts of the same period, some of which are dated 1698.The sonatasare both inscribed on the title page Sonata Violone Solo. Col Basso per l'Organo, o Cembalo. A third sonata bears the words Sonata Violino e Violoncino â?¦ di Giovannino del Violone. Giovannino (=Little, or Young John)musthave been a performer, and although the third sonata has been copied by a different hand, it is conceivable that Giovannino is a connecting link between the three. He cannot, however, be assumed to be theirauthor.The Violone was a six-stringed instrument with frets, and there is evidence to suggest that the Contrabasso of the same period was similar but probably a little larger; the Violoncino (=Little Violone, orVioloncello) must have been smaller. The word 'Violone' was also used as a collective term embracing all members of the Viol family, which means that the sonatas might well have been written for a tenor or a bass Viol, and notnecessarily a Violone as such. Indeed, when they are played on a Violone, or Double Bass the continuo bass line must be played at a lower pitch than the solo instrument, to prevent inversion of the intended harmony. (The use ofa Violone/Double Bass continuo or 16' organ tone would overcome this problem.)The editor has added no ornaments or embellishments to the solo part as it appears in the original manuscript. It is open to debate whether aViolone player, owing to the very nature of his instrument, would have used any but the simplest melodic decorations. Nevertheless, the performer should acquaint himself thoroughly with those seventeenth century traditions thatare known today (see Dart.
SKU: HL.48024203
ISBN 9781784542689. 9.0x12.0x0.127 inches.
The composer states: Acequia Madre demonstrates an approach which was somewhat new to the style of my musical expression at the time of its composition [2012]: structuring a work with the focus on its melodic aspects. I drew inspiration from other creative artists through one of my 'rituals': I surrounded myself with the scores of composers who, for one reason or another, were on my mind at the time, like Iannis Xenakis, Alban Berg's 'Four Pieces for Clarinet and Piano,' and 'Contrasts for violin, clarinet and piano' by Bela Bartok, plus Schubert's haunting final 'String Quartet No. 15.' Conquering technical difficulties is something I find particularly rewarding when playing acoustic instruments: fully aware that today's electronics can triumph over a composer's most demanding technical challenges, I love the idea of performers encountering their instruments with virtuosity ... doing something that seems to defy physical boundaries..
