Top Classical Musics Inside

It’s a shame that Bach’s accompanied violin sonatas are so infrequently performed. They may be the unfortunate victim of the overwhelming popularity of Bach’s solo repertoire and violin concerti (and perhaps also the victim of lackluster realizations).

The first recording I encountered of these pieces was the Laredo/Gould set on Sony, yet, despite each of their impeccable qualifications, I was left unimpressed. On a whim, however, I bought this recording and was left absolutely speechless. The music positively sings. There is imagination and a virile energy in both Carmignola and Marcon’s playing that complements Bach wonderfully – never overwhelming or compromising, but infusing an extraordinary vitality. I would have ever guessed these sonatas could be so much fun!

Despite the challenges of baroque instruments, Carmignola’s intonation is absolutely impeccable and Marcon’s phrasing and ornamentation is superb. It ranks among the finest harpsichord performances I’ve heard. If you have any aversion to the instrument, as I once did, he will quickly cure it.
Rating: 5 / 5

I am amazed at B. Johnson’s critique of this cd and of stylistically informed performances in general. Obviously, one who thinks that Isaac Stern’s rendition of Bach’s sonatas is the standerd to be emulated has absolutly no musical taste! Giuliano Carmignola’s performance provides such a fresh and exciting interpretation to music which used to be labeled as boring and trite. Take Johnson’s words with a grain of salt!
Rating: 5 / 5

Giuliano Carmignola is a musician’s musician. He was “discovered” by Sony when he was around the age of 50, having spent many decades in a corner of Italy quietly, calmly doing what he loves to do: playing music, considering music. We know this because we can clearly hear this in his sound. His sound never harangues, but its beauty compels us to listen. (Music, after all,is the art of manipulating sound.) It is not anti-music to play beautifully, although in these times of the vociferous “authentic” movement spokesmen, it might be politically incorrect. Being a working classical musician myself (I’m a violist), I inevitably find it wildly amusing to read protests by the so-called authentic movement. Many sound like they actually believe they are channeling past lives (and aural memory) from the eighteenth century. They conveniently forget that the Baroque Period (1600-1750) was Dionysian (and therefore “Romantic”) and not Apollonian. And they very self righteously try to snooker us into believing that they alone know what a body of work stands for, as if any one human being could possibly define that for the rest of us. A body of work stands for nothing, it simply is. Art always is the sum total of the experience we bring to it, “experience” being the operative word here. Ask any old geezer musical icon what is the most important in music, and you will inevitably get the same answer: music is about concentration and it is about intention. From the point of view of rendering a satisfying performance, what is printed on the page is merely the beginning of the process — and in the end, the least important. For unless an artist takes the printed page and then runs with it according to his own unique and inimitable experience, what is rendered sadly becomes something that a synthesizer also could have produced. I wince thinking of the enormous amount of recorded music out there that falls into this category and of the people who sigh, “I just don’t like classical music.” I say they just don’t like performances that bring nothing to the printed page.Carmignola and Marcon bring their honest selves to the performance of this music. The pleasure of their honesty and the beauty of their sound fills this listener with immense satisfaction.
Rating: 5 / 5