Fiorè: Complete Cello Sonatas and Italian Arias Elinor Frey

• Angelo Maria Fiorè (1660 - 1723):
• 1Sonata à Violoncello Solo in G Major: I. Adagio - II. Allegro - III. Presto06:23
• Anonymous:
• 2Il gran Tamerlano: Chi Serve al dio d'amor (Venice, 1689)04:20
• Carlo Ignazio Monza (1680 - 1739):
• 3Pièces modernes pour le clavecin: I. Allemande - II. Double05:32
• Angelo Maria Fiorè:
• 4Sinfonia à Violoncello e Cembalo in C Major: I. Grave - II. Canzona. Presto - III. Grave - IV. [Allegro]04:51
• Anonymous:
• 5Elvira regnante: Amo il regno et amo il figlio (Milan, 1696)04:31
• Angelo Maria Fiorè:
• 6Trattenimento in G Minor, Op. 1, No. 11: I. Largo - II. Allegro - III. Allegro03:57
• 7Sonata à Violoncello solo in G Major: I. Grave. Allegro. Adagio - II. Allegro - III. Adagio - IV. Presto04:59
• Anonymous:
• 8Il Radamisto: È caro il tormento soave il dolor (Milan, 1694)04:10
• 9Sonata à Violoncello solo in A Major: I. [Adagio] - II. Presto - III. [Menuet] - IV. [Allegro]02:53
• Carlo Ignazio Monza:
• 10Allemande in D Major04:10
• Angelo Maria Fiorè:
• 11Trattenimento in D Minor, Op. 1, No. 12: I. Adagio - II. Largo - III. Andante - IV. Presto06:20
• Anonymous:
• 12Ottaviano in Sicilia: Stelle avverse in cielo armatevi (Reggio 1692)02:32
• Carlo Francesco Pollarolo (1653 - 1723):
• 13La forza della virtù: Per godervi ò labra amate (Venice, 1693)02:39
• Angelo Maria Fiorè:
• 14Trattenimento in C Major, Op. 1, No. 13: I. Ad arbitrio - II. Allegro - IIII. Adagio - IV. Allegro06:02
• 15Sinfonia à Violoncello Solo, con il Basso Continuo in B-Flat Major: I. Adagio - II. Allegro - III. Affettuoso - IV. Presto05:59
• Anonymous:
• 16Hierone tiranno di Siracusa: Amar e non mirar (Piacenza 1688)04:09
• Angelo Maria Fiorè:
• 17Trattenimento C Minor, Op. 1, No. 14: Menuet01:03
• Total Runtime01:14:30

Info for Fiorè: Complete Cello Sonatas and Italian Arias

Angelo Maria Fiorè (1660-1723) worked in Parma and Turin, where he was one of the first to compose works for the violoncello. The recording with baroque cellist Elinor Frey presents not only his brilliant and lyrical sonatas, but also operas for soprano and cello works by contemporaries who use the expressive possibilities of the instrument. Fascinated with the cello's origins and the creative process of new music, Elinor Frey plays both period and modern instruments. Her prior albums have garnered her critical praise. Her first Baroque album was praised for its "careful scholarship and brilliant layering of moods and tempos" (Toronto Star) and for the "honest, reflective beauty of her music making" (Strings). Frey's honors include a US-Italy Fulbright Fellowship where she studied baroque cello with Paolo Beschi, the SSHRC Canada Graduate Scholarship, American Musicological Society, and Canada Council for the Arts grants facilitating her work on Italian cello music. In recent seasons she has performed with Les Idees hereuses, Il Gardellino, Ensemble Caprice, Studio de musique ancienne de Montreal, Arion, Theatre of Early Music, Les Violon du Roy, and Arion, as well as with her quartet, Paliade Musica, grand prize winners of the 2012 Early Music America Baoque Performance Competition and second prize winners in the 2014 International Van Wassenaer Competition in Utrecht. Frey holds degrees from McGill, Mannes, and Juilliard.

Towards the end of the 17th century, northern Italian composers were busy freeing the violoncello from its bass-line chores by creating a soloistic repertoire for it. Domenico Gabrielli is perhaps the best known of them, but this CD puts the spotlight on his younger colleague Angelo Maria Fiorè, born c.1660, probably in or near Milan, who worked in Lombardy and Emilia before settling in Turin, where he remained until his death in 1723.

Fiorè’s continuo-accompanied pieces are variously titled ‘sonatas’, ‘sinfonia’ or, charmingly, ‘trattenimenti’ (entertainments). They are all around five or six minutes in length and most of their short movements correspond to the usual dances of the age (though they might not be named thus). They are realised by Elinor Frey and her continuo collaborators with a keen ear for rubato and rhythmic inequality that doesn’t preclude an exciting momentum in the concluding, gigue-styled sections.

Alternating with Fiorè’s compositions are arias from contemporary operas that include an obbligato cello part. Voice and instrument complement each other, either through imitation or contrast, in music that makes the most expressive use of the rhetorical means that were a lingua franca in Baroque word-setting. Suzie LeBlanc’s clear voice contrasts beautifully with Frey’s tone, both being equally agile and expressive. The recording, made in a Lombard church, places the musicians in a warm, enveloping acoustic. Frey’s notes – a model of erudition lightly worn – add greatly to the albumss value." (The Strad)

Elinor Frey, baroque cello
Lorenzo Ghielmi, organ
Esteban La Rotta, lute
Suzie Leblanc, soprano

Elinor Frey
Fascinated by the cello’s origins and the creative process of new music, Elinor Frey plays both period and modern instruments. Her recent release on the Belgian label Passacaille, Berlin Sonatas with Lorenzo Ghielmi on fortepiano, was nominated for a Juno award for Best Classical CD, Solo & Chamber Music and won the 2015 Québec Opus Prize for Early Music CD of the year. Her first Baroque CD, La voce del violoncello, was praised for its “careful scholarship and brilliant layering of moods and tempos” (Toronto Star) and for the “honest, reflective beauty of her music making” (Strings). Her performance of this program was the winner of the public prize at the 2013 Utrecht Early Music Festival Fringe. In May 2017, she released Fiorè, the world premiere recording of the sonatas of Angelo Maria Fiorè and various unknown Italian arias the, performed alongside Lorenzo Ghielmi and Suzie LeBlanc.

Frey’s debut album, Dialoghi, is titled for the solo piece written for her by Steven Stucky, and her CD of new works for Baroque cello, titled Guided By Voices, will be released on the Analekta label in March 2019. These works are by Scott Godin, Linda Catlin Smith, Ken Ueno, Isaiah Ceccarelli, Maxime McKinley, and Lisa Streich. She also recently performed Lutoslawski’s cello concerto and a new concerto by Colin Labadie with the Laurier Symphony, as well as a concerto by Keiko Devaux with Ensemble Arkea and conductor Dina Gilbert.

Frey’s honours include a US-Italy Fulbright Fellowship where she studied baroque cello with Paolo Beschi, the SSHRC Canada Graduate Scholarship, American Musicological Society, and Canada Council for the Arts grants facilitating her work on Italian cello music. In recent seasons she has performed with Il Gardellino, Constantinople, Clavecin en concert, Ensemble Caprice, SMAM, Les Idées heureuses, Arion, Les Boréades, and Theatre of Early Music, as well as with her quartet, Pallade Musica, grand prize winners of the 2012 Early Music America Baroque Performance Competition and second prize winners in the 2014 International Van Wassenaer Competition in Utrecht. Frey holds degrees from McGill, Mannes, and Juilliard.

Booklet for Fiorè: Complete Cello Sonatas and Italian Arias