This question was urgently answered by the Ensemble Diderot in Linz’s Brucknerhaus on Sunday. The program included a very vivid lecture on the development of this genre, which was so central to the Baroque period, to which the four of them – Johannes Pramsolser and Roldán Bernabé (violins), Gulrim Choi (violoncello) and Philippe Grisvard (harpsichord) – devoted themselves intensively.
Velvety sound
In this case, trio does not mean the number of musicians, but the composition: it is music consisting of three parts for two solo instruments and basso continuo, which is performed by at least two musicians. The starting point was the Sonata prima from Opus 12 by Salamone Rossi, who is considered the “inventor” of this genre. Contributions by Giuseppe Scarani, Biagio Marini, Giovanni Le Grenzi and Lelio Colista led to the first grand master of the genre, Arcangelo Corelli, from whose Opus 2 the Ciaccona was heard. In the second part, the Ensemble Diderot explored the field of trio sonatas in France based on notes by Louis-Nicolas Clérambault and François Couperin, as well as Great Britain (with works by John Blow and Henry Purcell), where the genre was adopted from the continent and combined with its own consort music in was reconciled.
A fabulous cross-section of a genre that triumphed in the 17th century and was the status quo at the beginning of the 18th century. He makes music with special dedication and the velvety sound that is widely praised by the Ensemble Diderot, but which has enough rough edges to create emotionally charged, speaking baroque music.
Source: Nachrichten
