Giovanni Stefano Carbonelli: Sonate da Camera 7-12
Bojan Čičić & The Illyria Consort
Delphian DCD34214. 78’18

Following their 2017 debut recording of the first six of Giovanni Stefano Carbonelli’s Sonate de Camera (my enthusiastic review is here), Bojan Čičić & The Illyria Consort return to complete the set with the final six concertos. Four of the six are premier recordings. Sadly that completes the only known compositions surviving from this fascinating composer, Italian born, but settling and making a success of a career in England. My earlier review sets out the background to Carbonelli and these pieces, so I will not repeat them here.

The final six concertos differ from the first in that they are more aligned to the chamber sonata genre, unlike the first six which, with their incorporated fugal movements, veer towards the church sonata style. Although only a few of the Sonatas have named dance movements, elements of the dance are to be found throughout. The structure of the Sonatas varies from three to five movements, with a similar variety of moods and style.

The CD opens with Vivaldi’s Concerto in B-flat Il Carbonelli (RV366), composed around 1716 and, it seems, first played by Carbonelli during his early Italian years. Much as Vivaldi’s music is to be admired, on this occasion, it merely led me to appreciate the compositional talent of Carbonelli the more.

I finished my review of the first Carbonelli CD with these words – “On so many levels, this is a must-have CD. Fascinating music by a little-known composer played with outstanding musical conviction by four excellent musicians”. I can do no more than repeat that with reference to this excellent recording.