Albinoni & Form & Borner - Albinoni's Venice (CD)

After the success of the album "Vivaldiana" Michael Form and Dirk Börner continue their exploration of the Venetian repertoire for recorder with the present recording. The focus of her interest this time is Tomaso Albinoni, whose fame during his lifetime was spread far beyond the borders of Veneto and Italy. Even today it seems justified to name him in the same breath as Antonio Vivaldi, the rival star of the Venetian music scene of the early 18th century. A sonata by Albinoni and - as a world premiere recording - a Concerto di camera for recorder can be heard here, harpsichordist Dirk Börner contributes an original composition based on a theme by Albinoni. The two sonatas by Antonio Vivaldi, recorded here, are a continuation of the Vivaldiana" album. These are works that never existed in this form. The regrouping of sentences from different sources was a widespread technique, not only in Vivaldi's catalogue of works. The recorder sonata by Paolo Benedetto Bellinzani finally deserves special attention. The grand-gestured Largo and a virtuoso fast movement are followed by variations on the famous Follia theme. Bellinzani must surely have intended this conclusion as an allusion to Arcangelo Corelli's Violin Sonatas, Op. 5 (Rome, 1700).