Friday, 16 December 2016

Pedrini - Complete Violin Sonatas - Lindorff, Wilson


Rating: 3/5

Review:
Rather uninspiring



I'm afraid I found this a little uninspiring.  It's decent music in pretty good performances, but no more.

Pedrini is a little-known composer who turns out to have had an interesting life, spending a significant period as a court musician to the Chinese Emperor in the early 18th century.  Sadly, I didn't find all that much of interest in his music; it is perfectly listenable and quite technically challenging at times, but I don't find anything like the melodic or harmonic invention of, say, Vivaldi or Corelli and it's not in anything like the same league as Handel or Bach.

Joyce Lindorff and Nancy Wilson deal pretty well with the technical challenges of the music, but for me it never really catches fire or speaks to me emotionally.  This is partly due to the music itself, but I often find the playing a little stiff and uninspired, too.

Lindorff and Wilson deserve praise for bringing obscure music to a wider audience.  I admire the intent, but the overall result is a little lacklustre in both content and execution and I can only give this a very qualified recommendation.

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