Violin sonatas op.5

“Corelli has a nice ear and most delicate taste which led him to select the most pleasing harmonies and melodies and to construct the parts so as to produce the most delightful effect upon the ear”, thus said Geminiani, contemporary of Arcangelo Corelli. Arcangelo Corelli (1653-1713) was one of the most successful Italian composers around 1700, based in the capital of Rome. A charismatic violinist and orchestral leader he created a wealth of instrumental music, played during church services and for domestic use. He was the most widely performed and highly estimated composer of his generation and his purely Italian style had a huge influence in Europe (a.o. Handel and Bach). Corelli’s violin sonatas are the first works which abandon the trio sonata form and concentrate on the solo violin and the basso continuo, the birth of the violin sonata. Played by Baroque specialist Rémy Baudet (concert master of the Orchestra of the 18th Century) on a 1690 Giovanni Grancino violin. The continuo is played by Jaap ter Linden (cello), Mike Fentross (theorbo) and Pieter-Jan Belder (harpsichord), for sure the finest Early Music champions of the Low Countries.