Sonatas for two violins
Johannes Pramsohler, Roldán Bernabé
Audax ADX13714. 63’04
Louis-Gabriel GUILLEMAIN Sonata in d minor, Op4.2
Jean-Marie LECLAIR Sonata in B flat, Op12.6
Jean-Pierre GUIGNON Les Sauvages, Tendrement, La Fustemberg Op8
Nouvelles variations des Folies d’Espagne Op9
Étienne MANGEAN (c1710-c1756 Sonata in g minor, Op3.6
Johannes Pramsohler and the Audax record company are a busy lot, issuing a steady stream of recordings, all of which are gems. Here is another one, this time with 18th-century music for two violins. These are true duets, with no bass line or other instrumental involvement. A rather unusual repertoire but well worth recording and hearing. Playing on violins dating from 1713 and 1748, Johannes Pramsohler and Roldán Bernabé achieve a remarkable cohesion of tone and of playing. It is sometimes difficult to believe there are two people playing, such is the balance between them. Continue reading
Jean-Joseph Cassanéa de Mondonville (1711-1772) was born in the south-west of France to an aristocratic family whose fortune was in decline. He moved to Paris in 1733 and almost immediately published a volume of violin Sonatas. He initially came under the patronage of Madame de Pompadour and also joined the Concert Spirituel and, later, the Chapelle royale. The first of his 17 grands motets was performed at around the same time. In 1734, this Opus 2 set of six Trio Sonatas was published. The quality and technical virtuosity of the writing for the two violins says a lot about his own abilities as a violinist. Extensive use of double stops for both players are just the start of it.
Antonio Maria Montanari (1676-1737) was one of the most celebrated violinists in Rome during the period when Handel was there. He played in the orchestras of many of Rome most extravagant families and cardinals, including the Borghese, Ruspoli, Colonna and Pamphilj. He played in the first performance of Handel’s La Resurrezion in 1708. After Corelli’s death in 1713, Montanari took over some of his concertmaster roles. He is little known today, but his Opus 6 collection of violin concertos was one of the most advanced sets of the period. This inspiring CD of six of his concertos (all but one being first recordings – the Concerto in A Major, Op1/8 has been recorded by EUBO, the European Union Baroque Orchestra) will do much to return him to his former fame. 
About ten years after Reinhard Goebel’s Musica Antiqua Köln disbanded, Ensemble Diderot have completed their last CD project by recording the remaining six Trio Sonatas from his Il giardino del piacere, overo Raccolta de diversi fiori musicali, come sonate, fughe, imitationi, ciaccone, passagaglie, allemande, correnti &c. We know little of Johann Friedrich Meister. He seems to have come from Hanover, and certainly worked in the Ducal Court there. After a dispute about pay, he moved to the Lübeck area before moving north to Flensburg in Schleswig (then part of Denmark and now the most northerly city in Germany) where he was organist of the Marienkirche and work for the local Ducal Court. His collection, Il giardino del piacere (pleasure garden), was published in Hamburg in 1695, shortly before his death.
I have been watching violinist Johannes Pramsohler make his mark in the world of period violin playing over the past few years, and this CD shows that his growing reputation is well deserved. This well-chosen programme of relatively unknown Sonatas from the Bach circle, is a telling reminder that although his later fame came from his organ playing, Bach’s early childhood was spent learning the violin from his violinist father. As Pramsohler’s notes point out, it was only when the 10 year-old Bach, now orphaned, moved into his organ-playing elder brother’s house, that he started to focus on the organ. But he kept his father’s violin, his only inheritance, all his life. Although only one work is definitely by Bach, with two possibly Bach’s, Bach is suffused throughout the other works, by Pisendel, Graun and Krebs, representing the extraordinary flowering of musical talent in 18th century Weimar, Leipzig and Dresden. The Graun and Krebs works are world premiere recordings, taking us into a slightly later musical period. The CD ends with Bach’s extraordinary Fugue in g (BWV 1026). 
Andrew Benson-Wilson : Early Music Reviews + 