Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1957-02-24
TURNTABLE TALK
Bach S Musical Sons
Command Attention

ment is responsible for the ex-
cellent performances.
II + y
Arcangelo Corelli. who died
almost as the older Bach sons
were coming into the world, is
represented on another Angel
record. along with a more fa-
nous and a less famous con-
temporary. Antonio Vivaldi
and Giovan Battista Martini.
Corelli was famous In his day
as a violinist. One of his con-
certi grossi is on Angels rec
ord. The Vivaldi works are the
A major concerto for viola
d'amore and the D minor con-
certo crosse from the "Estro
Armonico," a work often used
as a virtuoso showpiece by
Koussevitzky.
Martini. now almost forgot
ten. was a versatile priest whose
career was almost exactly con-
teElporaneous with Wilhelm
Friedemann Bach's. His con-
tribution to Angels disc is a
harpsichord concerto, in this
case played with piano. The
Italian ensemble known as l
Musici performs all this attrac-
tive music with skill.
A full record of Corelli con-
certi grossi tone the Christ
mas" concerto) has been made
by I Musici for Epic. in new
series which also offers discs
devoted to music by his Vero-
nese contemporary Giuseppe
Torelli and the Venetian of
slightly later date. Benedetto
Marcello. The melodious To-
relli works. also performed by
! Musici. are concerts grossi,
but with growing stress on solo
roles by violin or cello. On
the Marcello disc two of the
Musici group perform six
sonatas for viola da gambia
and harpsichord. The gambia
was a mellow forebear of the
cello, with six strings: it makes
very engaging music on this
record.
The Solisti di Zagreb, an
ensemble led by the cellist
Antonio Janigro, are making a
new series for Vanguard which
has started off auspiciously
with records devoted to Vi
valdi. Rossini and Bach. Con-
certos for bassoon and oboe
two OF the latter-are high
lights of the Vivaldi disc.
tThe bassoon concerto and
one of those for oboe are
duplicated. incidentally. in a
London Vivaldi collection.
Vanguard's sound is slightly
more robust-for those who are
not guided in choice by the
differing companion roper
toire.l
The Bach disc has an inter-
eSting version for violin and
oboe of the c minor concer-
to normally heard with two
harpsichords. and also a
triple concerto for flute,
violin and harpsichord, both
thoroughly attractive.
The RoSsini record is even
more interesting. How many
think Of Rossini as a cham
ber-music composer? Here
are four "sonatas" for violins,
cello and double bass. written
by the composer of THE
Barber" when he was a teen
ager and active admirer of
Mozart and Haydn. Many of
the airs are aria-like. The
pieces are charming. The dis
covery Of the third sonata, in
cidentally. was made at the
Library Of Congress.
Francesca eminiani, a
Corelli pupil, was the author Of
a set Of six concerti grossi on
a Westminster disc made by
Hermann Scherchen. The COL
lection is highly enjoyable.
On a Victor disc featuring
the Societa Corelli one can
hear a Geminiani transcript
ton Of Corelli's famous violin
piece. La Follia," along with
the Vivaldi violin concerto
known as III Riposo' and con-
certos by the relatively obscure
COMPOSERS Baldassarp Calunni