Caldara Trio Sonatas

Antonio Caldara: Trio Sonatas. (2015, June). Amandine Beyer, Leila Schayegh (violins), Jonathan Pesek (cello), Jörg-Andreas Bötticher, (keyboards), Matthias Spaeter (lute). Glossa. 72:48. Information

My first exposure to the music of Antonio Caldara, who was active around the time of Arcangelo Corelli, was vocal music. Since then, I’ve encountered a few instrumental pieces. But this recording features trio sonatas from his two collections (opus 1 and opus 2), revealing his compositional skills next to other Italians, notably Corelli and Vivaldi.

Amandine Beyer is familiar to me as a member of Gli Incogniti. I’ve also seen her perform live here in the U.S. Among the recordings I have of her, I really have enjoyed her recording of the Bach Sonatas and Partitas, her Matteis, and her recording of Rebel Sonatas pour violons et basse continue. I am less familiar with the other artists, but several recordings by Leila Schayegh have piqued my interest.

Antonio Vivaldi was almost exclusively active in Venice; Caldara too came from this same city. Corelli was active in Rome, but was originally from Bologna. In attempting to describe the Caldara style, I find myself comparing his music to both Vivaldi, who also started his professional compositional career writing trio sonatas. And forced to pick sides, I’d say Caldara’s harmony more closely could be mistaken as Corelli. The level of invention, however, is almost more diverse. Discovering Caldara’s trio sonatas was a good find for me; he was a fine composer who I feel deserves to be compared to the likes of Corelli and Vivaldi.

Beyer and Schayegh seem a very well-matched pair. As an ensemble, the team works sensitively together. The sound quality of the recording is first rate.

This was an unexpected choice find. Warmly recommended.