La Voce nel violino

LA VOCE NEL VIOLINO ENRICO ONOFRI - Imaginarium Cima, Uccelini, Fontana, Monteverdi, Gesualdo, Castello, Frescobaldi, Veracini, Rognono, Pandolfi Mealli

Enrico Onofri wants to illustrate the emancipation of violin’s role from accompaniement to soloist. During the XVIIe, it goes through the appropriation of the voice language into the technic and virtuosity of the violin.

"In the early seventeenth century, then, the violin began to become independent of the vocal repertoire, thanks to the publication of pieces expressly written for the instrument by a number of virtuosos. However, throughout the first half of the century their works were to remain closely linked to the domain of vocal music, despite attempts to create a specific instrumental language - to such an extent that the writing in certain sonatas is very often similar to that of vocal music. This is why, alongside the various violin sonatas presented here, we have chosen to include instrumental performances of the Monteverdi madrigals Mentre vaga Angioletta and Armato il cor, Gesualdo’s madrigal Asciugate i begli occhi, and Frescobaldi’s arietta Se l’aura spira, so that the listener may realise the stylistic proximity of the two genres. In its exploration of the thin line that separates voice and instrument, this recording thus ranges from the sacred vocal environment of the sonatas of Giovanni Paolo Cima to the madrigal Ancor che col partire with diminutions by Richardo Rognoni, from the theatrical points of reference of the Pandolfi sonata to the hyperbolic cantabilità of those by Fontana and Castello. " Enrico Onofri