Violin Sonatas Op.4 : Felix Ayo(Vn)De Bernart(P)

Giovanni Battista Viotti:
Sonatas for Violin and Piano, Op. 4

SONATA No.1 in E major
SONATA No.2 in A major
SONATA No.3 in D major
SONATA No.4 in B flat major
SONATA No.5 in E flat major

Felix Ayo, violin
Corrado de Bernart, piano

Recorded: 1997

e importance of Giovanni Battista Viotti in the history of violin music has long been acknowledged. The Six sonatas for violin and basso continuo Op.4 - the first five of which are here featured - were published by Sieber, in Paris, around 1788. They belong to a genre, that of the sonata for violin and basso, then already in decline but not yet completely superseded by the sonata for violin and piano. The Six Sonatas Op.4 are structured in three movements, the usual Allegro - Adagio - Allegro. No. 6 ends with a theme and variations. The violin, as should be expected, is in the foreground, with passages that seem, at times, almost directly drawn from the concertos, and with flowing and virtuosic writing. These sonatas were likely destined, primarily, for Viotti's own use in concert.
The arrangement for violin and piano of this recording is one of many possibilities of performance that Viotti could have adopted at this rather advanced stage in his career.
The first movements of the six works are generally in sonata form, while the second movements, in A-B-A form, are cantabile and lyrical, and have cadenzas and pause signs meant to give the soloist ample room to emerge.
The first five sonatas end with very virtuosic rondos. The last one, instead, concludes with a minuet and five variations. One of the most original characteristics of these works is the fact that their movements are often linked, thematically, by a certain affinity in their first few bars (this is particularly evident in the sonata No.4), which makes each work distinctly coherent.
Viotti was a very polished composer, gifted with a rich melodic vein and an inborn sense of formal balance this can indeed be appreciated in these works, where the gratifying solo part, of exquisite classical inspiration, never for a moment detracts from the works' overall refinement. ( Dynamic )