Montanari / Anima & Corpo - Golden Strings [CD]

Giovanni Mossi and Antonio Montanari, two of the most esteemed violin virtuosi of eighteenth-century Rome, can finally take centre stage, away from the crowded panorama of Corelli's pupils and imitators; their works can be fully appreciated in this new recording devoted to their sonatas for violin. Three sonatas by Mossi for violin and continuo from his Op. 5 and Op. 6 are presented here; these collections remain lesser-known and lesser-recorded even today. The three violin sonatas by Montanari that the celebrated virtuoso Johann Pisendel brought from Rome to Dresden in 1717, after having taken lessons from Montanari himself, are recorded here together for the first time. The director of this project is the young violinist Gabriele Pro, one of the most promising Italian Baroque violinists of his generation. He is joined by cellist Maria Calvo, lutenist Simone Vallerotonda, already a star of many Arcana recordings, and award-winning harpsichordist Cristiano Gaudio.