Roberto Valentini (1674-1747)
Sonate pour mandoline en la, op. 12 n° 1
Sonate pour mandoline en ré mineur, op. 12 n° 2
Sonate pour mandoline en sol, op. 12 n° 3
Sonate pour mandoline en sol mineur, op. 12 n° 4
Sonate pour mandoline en mi mineur, op. 12 n° 5
Sonate pour mandoline en ré, op. 12 n° 6

Pietro Gaetano Boni (1686-1741)
Sonate pour mandoline en la, op. 2 n° 1
Sonate pour mandoline en ré mineur, op. 2 n° 2
Sonate pour mandoline en ré, op. 2 n° 9

Pizzicar Galante

Anna Schivazappa, mandoline baroque
Fabio Antonio Flacone, clavecin
Ronald Martin Alonso, viole de gambe
Daniel de Morais, théorbe

Voilà un disque rare, en fait une première mondiale ! L’ensemble Pizzicar Galante, avec Anna Schivazappa (mandoline), Fabio Falcone (clavecin), Ronald Alonso (viole de gambe) et Daniel de Moraïs (théorbe), joue pour la première fois un recueil de sonates pour mandoline et basse continue publié à Rome vers 1710. Hors les fameux concerti de Vivaldi, la mandoline n’est pas souvent à l’honneur. Cet instrument, sorte de petit luth très en vogue dans les pays méditerranéens, sera particulièrement populaire dans l’Italie du XVIIIe, la soliste utilisant ici deux mandolines milanaises (6 et 5 chœurs). Les sonates sont de Roberto Valentini majoritairement et Pietro Boni. Valentini, en réalité Robert Valentine, anglais né à Leicester, s’expatrie en Italie, puis naturalisé se fixe à Rome où il enseigne et compose. L’influence de Corelli, alors tout puissant, et sa «virtuosité tempérée» rejaillit inévitablement sur la musique de Valentini dans un lyrisme équilibré et éclatant. Le Pizzicar Galante dans sa volonté de valoriser le répertoire baroque pour mandoline et basse continue livre une interprétation particulièrement aboutie où la virtuosité d’Anna Schivazappa participe à la clarté du discours musical. Remercions le label Brilliant Classics d’avoir lancé ce jeune ensemble qui grave son premier CD avec une évidente réussite. (Philippe Zanoly)

The east Midlands city of Leicester has recently come to worldwide attention thanks to a winning partnership between its football club and an Italian coach. This latest addition to the ever-expanding catalogue of Baroque Italiana on Brilliant Classics demonstrates that the connection between Leicester and Rome goes back at least three centuries: to one Robert Valentine, who left his home city at the end of the 17th century and made a career across Europe as an itinerant musician, before settling in the Eternal City as ‘Roberto Valentini Inglese’. There he established himself as a flautist, oboist and composer. He evidently gained renown in the competitive musical culture of Rome, played in the first performance of Handel’s La Risurrezione under Corelli, and apparently never returned to Leicester. Valentini died in Rome on 26 May 1747, and by that time much of his extant music had been published in the great musical centres of Amsterdam, Paris and London, as well as his adopted home. Chamber music was the focus of his activity, with starring roles not only for his flute and oboe but also the mandolin. His model in making these works may well have been Pietro Giuseppe Gaetano Boni, whose career was mostly forged in Rome until his death in around 1750. The two collections excerpted here are of all the greater importance because they are the first of their kind. Boni’s 12 divertimenti Op.2 are all conceived in three and four movements, mostly of a suite-like character, with sarabandes, gigues and courantes. Valentini’s six sonatas Op.12 range a little farther from the Corellian sonata template and point towards the more exploratory idioms of Handel and Locatelli. Quick movements often have a galant flavor which matches the melodramatic effects to be found in some of the adagios and andantes: ‘amorosa’ is the telling indication for the Andante of No.2. Although it is Vivaldi who made the use of the mandolin popular in concerted music, this stylishly performed album should provide more than historical context but also a great deal of attractive listening to lovers of the Baroque.