Pandolfi: Violin Sonatas
List Price:
Our Price: $15.92
You Save: $6.06 (28%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $6.99 (click here)
Category: Music CD
See more CD details
Buy this Music CD at online store in your country
Canadian Music Store
Canadian Music Store
CD Details
Composer: Giovanni Antonio Pandolfi MealliPerformer: Andrew Manze
Performer: Richard Egarr
Edition: Music CD
Audio: English (Original Language)
Format: Import
CD Release Date: 1999-08-10
Music Label: Harmonia Mundi Fr.
Soundtracks:
- Sonata for violin & continuo, Op. 3/1 ('La Stella')
- Sonata for violin & continuo, Op. 3/2 ('La Cesta')
- Sonata for violin & continuo, Op. 3/3 ('La Melana')
- Sonata for violin & continuo, Op. 3/4 ('La Castella')
- Sonata for violin & continuo, Op. 3/5 ('La Clemente')
- Sonata for violin & continuo, Op. 3/6 ('La Sabbatina')
- Sonata for violin & continuo, Op. 4/1 ('La Bernabea')
- Sonata for violin & continuo, Op. 4/2 ('La Viviana')
- Sonata for violin & continuo, Op. 4/3 ('La Monella Romaesca')
- Sonata for violin & continuo, Op. 4/4 ('La Biancuccia')
- Sonata for violin & continuo, Op. 4/5 ('La Stella')
- Sonata for violin & continuo, Op. 4/6 ('La Vinciolina')
Music reviews of Pandolfi: Violin Sonatas
Music Review: Unimpressive Compositions and Performance
Rating: 1 Stars
Giovanni Pandolfi is one of several obscure Italian composers who were primarily away from their native country composing for foreign courts and patrons: Uccellini and Matteis are some of the others. Andrew Manze is also one of the leading musicians in exploring previously unknown composers from the Early Baroque period. Although I kind of knew what to expect in terms of Manze's shortcomings as one previous reviewer has mentioned, the compositions themselves on this album are mediocre in terms of its contemporaries and amount to nothing but scale practice. The rather deceptive claim by the main reviewer that no one can match this performance is already not a good sign. Although true, the only reason no one can presently match this performance is not due to any of lack of competing talent but simply because Manze is the only talent to have recorded it. Manze performing is not really saying much at all either I'm afraid because Manze's talent is more an academic one rather than of a professional nature and so that is the deficiency which for me sends this mediocre work back to the depths of obscurity where it had properly remained for good reason.
Manze is at it again as with every piece he performs for the Italian style that has absolutely no passion of any sort. They are lifeless robotic excercises and nothing more! Manze is principally an academic performer instead of a professional one and his performances sound like scale and technique lessons instead of the passionate interpretations they are supposed to be. I can't stand them as it really only appeals to violinists who need to practice the techniques that are painfully overemphasized ad nauseam in recordings such as this one! This sluggish screeching resulting from his over-methodical applications of technique sounds like a set of nails scratching the chalkboard every time. It's self-defeating really as such over-methodical performances make him sound like nothing more than an amateur! They are tedious beyond belief! In terms of professional performance cirlces he is really an amateur in many ways. Compare Manze/Romanesca and Goebels/Musica Antiqua Koln for Biber's 'Mystery Sonatas' where Manze's deficiencies are shamefully exposed in properly performing Italian/Catholic tradition Early Baroque pieces. Although both he and Goebels use traditional intruments and techniques, Goebels' fluid and emotive interpretation leaves Manze sounding stuck in the mud of his own confused ones. An even better example of this in terms of Early Baroque Italian performers such as Pandolfi is Manze and McGegan performing Uccellini who is somewhat of an Italian contemporary. Just as with Goebels for Biber, Nicholas McGegan's traditional performance of Uccellini on the Baroque violin is warm, fluid, vibrant, and full of life whereas Manze's performance is as fossilized as the one here. With Manze it's no longer a Baroque interpretation but a prehistoric one instead! With performances for Pandolfi there isn't yet really any choice except Manze but, to listeners who care about their ears, I tell you avoid Manze like the plague whenever possible. He knows great techniques but simply doesn't know how to properly apply them for public performance. In short, he simply stinks as a public performer and, despite all his technical knowledge, he is ironically one of the worst solo violinists you can get for virtually anything you might want to buy!
This album is way too expensive for both the composer and performer that is in it. Pandolfi is probably the least gifted of the obscure early 17th century Italian composers: these works are nothing but basic scale practice for archaic methods. I have great respect for Manze as an innovative musicologist exploring these obscure Baroque works and the difficult techniques they demand but he is simply pathetic as a performer and that's the simple truth! He focuses so much on techniques that he limits his ability to express the lyricism they are intended to evoke in the first place. Avoid this album and avoid Manze whenever possible as he's more an academic than a public performer.
Description of Pandolfi: Violin Sonatas
Complete Violin SonatasAll we know about the mysterious Giovanni Antonio Pandolfi Meali--as his full name runs--is that he "flourished" at the court of Innsbruck between 1660 and 1669. And we probably wouldn't know even that, save for the fact that two sets of violin sonatas, designated Op. 3 and Op. 4, respectively, and dating from 1660, have somehow survived to the present day. Anyone familiar with the music of this period will realize just what a treasure these works potentially represent, for this was the moment of the emergence of the first great school of violin playing in Italy and Austria, typified by the dazzling music of Biber and his Salzburg contemporaries. Pandolfi was clearly one of the gang: his music is by turns winsomely lyrical and technically brilliant. None of these 12 works is longer than eight minutes, and each is a little suite of arias and dances full of contrast and invention. Andrew Manze is not just the world's best baroque violinist, he's one of the world's best violinists, period. His interpretations of these appealing sonatas are matchless, and Harmonia Mundi's sonics bathe both violin and harpsichord in a golden glow. Magnificent. --David Hurwitz
Classical CDs
Music Genres
Bestsellers in Classical CDs
Winterscapesby London Philharmonic
Prophetic Voice; Published: 2000-07; Audio CD; Book
Best price: $2.75
Price in other shops:
The Queen, the Bear, & the Bumblebeeby Dini Petty
Children's Group; Published: 2001-03; Audio CD; Book
Best price: $13.38
Price in other shops:
Classical Kids - Beethoven Lives Upstairs CdrRelease date: 2000-04-05; Music CD
Best price: $24.98
Tchaikovsky (Life and Works (Naxos))by Malcolm Sinclair, Jeremy Siepmann
Naxos; Published: 2003-11; Audio CD; Book
Best price: $35.99
![Jose Carreras - Jubileum Concert [VHS] Image](/images/Jose-Carreras-Jubileum-Concert-VHS-1584481471-X.jpg){kind=small}
Jose Carreras - Jose Carreras - Jubileum Concert [VHS]Sling Shot; Release date: 2000-04-18; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $5.86
Price in other shops:
![Tchaikovsky - The Nutcracker / Nureyev, Park, Royal Ballet [VHS] Image](/images/Tchaikovsky-The-Nutcracker-Nureyev-Park-Royal-Ballet-VHS-156127092X-X.jpg){kind=small}
Tchaikovsky - The Nutcracker / Nureyev, Park, Royal Ballet [VHS]Kultur Video; Release date: 1997-09-09; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $29.89
Price in other shops:
![Lonely Town Lonley Street / Sergeant's Early Dream [VHS] Image](/images/Lonely-Town-Lonley-Street-Sergeant-Early-Dream-VHS-1561270857-X.jpg){kind=small}
Rambert Dance Company - Lonely Town Lonley Street / Sergeant's Early Dream [VHS]Kultur Video; Release date: 1997-10-28; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $14.99
Price in other shops:
Winter Music: Composing the Northby John Luther Adams
Wesleyan; Published: 2004-11-10; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $21.93
Price in other shops:
![Puccini - La Fanciulla del West / Santi, Domingo, Neblett, Royal Opera Covent Garden [VHS] Image](/images/Puccini-La-Fanciulla-del-West-Santi-Domingo-Neblett-Royal-Opera-Covent-Garden-VHS-0769720382-X.jpg){kind=small}
Puccini - La Fanciulla del West / Santi, Domingo, Neblett, Royal Opera Covent Garden [VHS]Kultur Video; Release date: 1999-05-25; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $6.38
Price in other shops:
![Verdi - Falstaff / Giulini, Bruson, Ricciarelli, Nucci, Royal Opera Covent Garden [VHS] Image](/images/Verdi-Falstaff-Giulini-Bruson-Ricciarelli-Nucci-Royal-Opera-Covent-Garden-VHS-0769720358-X.jpg){kind=small}
Verdi - Falstaff / Giulini, Bruson, Ricciarelli, Nucci, Royal Opera Covent Garden [VHS]Kultur Video; Release date: 1999-05-25; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $12.95
Price in other shops:
Similar CDs
Biber: The Mystery SonatasRelease date: 2002-12-23; Music CD
Best price: $6.84
Price in other shops:
Perfumes: The A-Z Guideby Luca Turin, Tania Sanchez
Penguin (Non-Classics); Published: 2009-10-27; Paperback; Book
Best price: $10.11
Price in other shops:
Mozart: Violin Sonatas, 1781 - K. 376, K. 377, K. 380 - Andrew Manze (violin), Richard Egan (fortepiano)Release date: 2005-10-11; Music CD
Best price: $12.00
Price in other shops:
Phantasticus: 17th Century Italian Violin MusicRelease date: 1998-04-14; Music CD
Best price: $27.40
Schmelzer: Violin SonatasRelease date: 1996-09-17; Music CD
Best price: $13.99
Price in other shops:
Handel: Complete Violin SonatasMANZE,ANDREW; Release date: 2005-01-11; Music CD
Best price: $6.00
Price in other shops:
PortraitRelease date: 2000-08-15; Music CD
Best price: $5.61
Price in other shops:
Tartini: The Devil's Sonata and Other WorksRelease date: 1998-03-10; Music CD
Best price: $20.45
Price in other shops:
Rebel - Violin Sonatas / Manze, Linden, EgarrRelease date: 1999-01-12; Music CD
Best price: $19.49
Price in other shops:
Uccellini - Sonatas / Romanesca - Manze · North · TollRelease date: 1999-05-11; Music CD
Best price: $25.00