Chamber Music – Harpsichord Concerto

The compositions recorded here are contained in manuscripts preserved in the Fondo Venturi of the Biblioteca di Montecatini Terme and the Biblioteca del Conservatorio in Genoa (with the exception of the Concerto for harpsichord, available in a modern edition).
The purpose of this recording is to further the knowledge of the vast instrumental repertoire belonging to the important tradition of music intended for private and amateur use which flourished in Tuscany (encouraged by the Lorraine dominion) in the second half of the eighteenth century The starring role was given to the harpsichord, featured in such diverse forms as the concerto, the solo sonata and the “duetto”, a type of writing for “cimbalo” and violin (or other instrument) which already appears in certain publications from London dating from mid-century (see, for example, Felice Giardini’s op. 3).
These works offer a wide spectrum of alternatives in the arrangement of the parts, ranging from the correspondence of two instruments in dialogue to the exposition of the soloist over a basso continuo, and, at the opposite extreme, the obbligato harpsichord.