Trio Settecento: Veracini: Complete Sonate Accademiche

Francesco Maria Veracini (1690-1768) was an Italian composer and violinist who lived during a period when there were several notable fiddle-slingers, like: Giuseppe Torelli (1658-1709), Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber (1644-1704), Giuseppe Tartini (1692-1770), Arcangelo Corelli (1653-1713), Francesco Geminiani (1687-1762), and Pietro Locatelli (1695-1762). Not to mention three other fiddlers that bear mentioning: Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741), Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) and George Frideric Handel (1685-1759); but that seems like overkill. Veracini had plenty of highfalutin peers with whom he was known to have crossed paths.

Veracini's music is informed by the three locales where he spent most of his time: his native Florence, Dresden, and London. Elements of all three places perfume his Sonate Accademiche, Op. 2, a group of twelve sonatas considered the epitome of High Baroque. Violinist Rachel Barton Pine, working from Veracini's 1744 edition of the sonatas took the composer's travels and influences into account. Her dedication to the project is reflected in her commentary and through her fine performances contained herein. Pine's approach, with that of cellist John Mark Rozendaal and harpsichordist David Schrader is to carefully strip the veneer of these pieces better revealing their sunny and often boisterous character (well, at least for Baroque violin sonatas.