Francesco Bonporti (1672-1749)
Sonates pour 2 violons et basse continue, op. 6

Labirinti Armonici

Andrea Ferroni, violon
Josef Höhn, violon
Ivo Brigadoi, violoncelle
Marija Jovanovic, clavecin
Pietro Posser, archiluth

Depuis 1680 et le modèle des sonates en trio de Corelli, cette forme musicale était devenue un point de passage obligé pour tout jeune compositeur désireux d'établir sa maîtrise en son art ; ensuite seulement il pouvait se tourner vers des nouveautés telles que la sonate pour violon ou le concerto. Quand Bonporti publia en 1705 à Venise son op. 6, il n'avait cependant plus rien à démontrer en ce domaine auquel il avait déjà consacré ses op. 1, 2 et 4 ; mais en n'exigeant rien qui dépassa les possibilités techniques de la moyenne des violonistes de son temps, il s'assurait une large diffusion dont témoignent les rééditions qui se succédèrent à Paris, Londres et Amsterdam. Et pour mieux les mettre à portée de cercles restreints d'amateurs, il n'estimait pas obligatoire la basse continue et le clavecin. L'excellent ensemble Labirinti Armonici en a jugé autrement, ajoutant même un archiluth dans six de ces dix sonates. Avec raison, car en dépit d'ingéniosités ici et là, cette succession de mouvements brefs, pour la plupart de danses stylisées, aurait fini par nous faire sombrer dans l'ennui. (Michel Lorentz-alibert)

Volume 4 in a critically acclaimed survey of Bonporti’s music reaches Op.6, perhaps the most overlooked treasure in the output of the ‘gentleman from Trento’. This was the nickname bestowed on himself by Francesco Antonio Bonporti (1672 - 1749), who was born in the northern Italian city, and made his career as a musician in the surrounding region before dying in Padova. The Opus 6 collection of trio sonatas was published in 1705, and dedicated to the Roman prince Carlo Colonna, who had played a pivotal role in the career of the young Handel as his patron. Perhaps it has been comparatively neglected because of its relatively archaic form: by 1705, a collection of trio sonatas amounted to a tribute to the past, a kind of rite of passage through which every young composer of distinction should pass, before moving on to the more overtly impressive and demanding genres of concerto and solo sonata. Inevitably, the model for any composer of Bonporti’s era was the Op.1 collection of trio sonatas by Arcangelo Corelli. Bonporti’s Op.6 proves itself a worthy successor. All ten sonatas are arranged in a three-movement form, mostly opening with a Prelude and then a pair of Baroque dances: courantes, gigues, gavottes and sarabandes, though now so stylised as to be distant from their original purpose. This somewhat minimalist form of trio sonata does not employ the theatrical devices heard in some Italian chamber music of the time; there is even a sense of melancholy restraint about Bonporti’s language in Op.6, as though he was straining towards an expressive freedom which emerges in later opus numbers. This tension is held in balance, however, and poured into a harmonic language of delicately placed suspensions which reach a highpoint in the chromatic opening prelude to the Seventh Sonata. Reviewing Bonporti’s Op.2 Sonatas on Brilliant Classics with Labirinti Armonici (95718), Raymond Tuttle in Fanfare concluded, ‘These performances are excellent, ideally balancing energy and gracefulness… I can think of nothing bad to say about these sonatas and these performances. This disc has raised my curiosity about Bonporti, and I think that is recommendation enough.’