Carlo Tessarini (c. 1690-c. 1767 in the Ntherlands. A pupil of Vivaldi, he also penned a violin treatise. Probably born in Rimini, Italy, he died after March 12, 1767. His Op. 1 (12 Sonate a Violino Violoncello o Cembalo), was published in Venice in 1729 and gives us our first clue to this composer: that he served as Maestro di Cappella at these Ospidale Dei Santi Giovanni Paolo and violinist at the Basilica of San Marco.
Later he worked at the Cathedral of Urbano, which allowed him to travel internationally. He went to England: this we know was before 1830, as he dedicated his Op. 3 to the Duke of York; in 1741 he was back in Italy, becoming director oath Accdemia degli Anarconti in Fano, from whenever he moved to Paris, publishing multiply between 1743-53. After 1758 he set up stall in the Netherlands.
This is claimed as the the World premiere recording, although what it means is in traverso instrumentation: there are performances on violin on Brilliant Classics by the group Il Bell’Accordo; Tessarini deliberately wrote these sonatas in a “less brilliant” style so they can be accommodated on flute, so this is a valuable opportunity to hear them in that format.
Tessarini’s Op. 14, heard here, was published in Venice to commemorate the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle; there was a Paris reprint of 1750. Most Sonatas are in the Late Baroque three-movement format (as we shall see, No. 5 has four).
The opening Spiritoso of the Sonata Op. 14/1 sets the stall of this recording; the recording is perfectly blanked been Erika Oi’s wood traverso and Tung-Han Hu’s harpsichord; nice life cadenza-like flourishes for Oi, and imaginative harpsichord writing (you can hear such flourishes from Oi in the opening Vivace of Op. 14/1):
A beautifully expressive Largo follows, crowned by a charming Presto (not perhaps the modern meaning of that indication here, with plenty of space for articulation and detail). Here’s the Largo:
The format is not always fast-slow-fast. Op. 14/2 begins with an Andante of some breadth (relatively speaking: 2″53):
Tessarini’s use of register is always carefully considered: the Vivace second movement of Op. 14/2 here makes use of the traverso’s lower reaches: Erika Oi is both firm and round-toned in this lovely recording:
It is in the slow movement the Tessarini’s imagination really shines; and t seems to inspire Oi nd Hu, too. Here’s the elegant Andante grazioso from Op. 14/3:
It is the dusky over register of the traverso the is so lovely, heard both in faster movements (the finale of Op. 14.4) and in the opening Adagio to the Sonata da cheiesa that is Op. 14/5 (four movements: Adagio-Spiritoso-Largo-Minuet):
The final Sonata runs to the three-movement format. he opening Allegro is interesting that it seems to have Classical tendencies in its melodic content:
The finale is a real Presto, the perfect close to the set:
We spoke above of some a rather nice cadenza-li flourishes duding Op. 14. Two pieces of Tassarini’s Il piacere delle Dame (“The Pleasure of the Ladies”, Nos. 9 and 10) include cadenzas by the booklet annotator, Tsunero Asakawa. The music is gentle, playful, cosy even, alternating slow movements (mostly Cantabile or Grazioso, plus two Adagios). Each is perfectly constructed . The most extended is the Adagio; the “Aria-Allegro” that follows feels the perfect complement:
Eriko Oi is a phenomenal player who works in full resonance with Tung-Han Hu. A lovely disc. This Tactus release is available from Amazon here.
