Platti: Cello Sonatas Francesco Galligioni & Members of L'Arte dell'Arco

• Giovanni Benedetto Platti (1697 - 1763): Cello Sonata No. 1 in G Minor, I.90:
• 1Cello Sonata No. 1 in G Minor, I.90: I. Adagio02:56
• 2Cello Sonata No. 1 in G Minor, I.90: II. Non presto02:26
• 3Cello Sonata No. 1 in G Minor, I.90: III. Largho02:32
• 4Cello Sonata No. 1 in G Minor, I.90: IV. Allegro01:43
• Cello Sonata No. 2 in D Minor, I.86:
• 5Cello Sonata No. 2 in D Minor, I.86: I. Largho02:25
• 6Cello Sonata No. 2 in D Minor, I.86: II. Allegro02:04
• 7Cello Sonata No. 2 in D Minor, I.86: III. Adagio02:06
• 8Cello Sonata No. 2 in D Minor, I.86: IV. Fuga-A tempo giusto01:45
• Cello Sonata No. 3 in C Major, I.82:
• 9Cello Sonata No. 3 in C Major, I.82: I. Adagio02:22
• 10Cello Sonata No. 3 in C Major, I.82: II. Allegro02:24
• 11Cello Sonata No. 3 in C Major, I.82: III. Grave03:17
• 12Cello Sonata No. 3 in C Major, I.82: IV. Allegro02:26
• Cello Sonata No. 4 in A Major, I.92:
• 13Cello Sonata No. 4 in A Major, I.92: I. Andante e staccato03:53
• 14Cello Sonata No. 4 in A Major, I.92: II. Allegro02:09
• 15Cello Sonata No. 4 in A Major, I.92: III. Adagio02:08
• 16Cello Sonata No. 4 in A Major, I.92: IV. Allegro02:15
• Cello Sonata No. 5 in D Major, I.85:
• 17Cello Sonata No. 5 in D Major, I.85: I. Non tanto adagio02:29
• 18Cello Sonata No. 5 in D Major, I.85: II. Fuga01:54
• 19Cello Sonata No. 5 in D Major, I.85: III. Largho01:40
• 20Cello Sonata No. 5 in D Major, I.85: IV. Presto02:13
• Cello Sonata No. 6 in E Major, I.87:
• 21Cello Sonata No. 6 in E Major, I.87: I. Adagio01:47
• 22Cello Sonata No. 6 in E Major, I.87: II. Allegro01:54
• 23Cello Sonata No. 6 in E Major, I.87: III. Ciciliana01:59
• 24Cello Sonata No. 6 in E Major, I.87: IV. Allegro02:08
• Cello Sonata No. 7 in D Major, I.84:
• 25Cello Sonata No. 7 in D Major, I.84: I. Adagio01:59
• 26Cello Sonata No. 7 in D Major, I.84: II. Allegro02:24
• 27Cello Sonata No. 7 in D Major, I.84: III. Largho01:22
• 28Cello Sonata No. 7 in D Major, I.84: IV. Presto01:15
• Cello Sonata No. 8 in G Major, I.89:
• 29Cello Sonata No. 8 in G Major, I.89: I. Adagio03:46
• 30Cello Sonata No. 8 in G Major, I.89: II. Allegro02:05
• 31Cello Sonata No. 8 in G Major, I.89: III. Adagio01:41
• 32Cello Sonata No. 8 in G Major, I.89: IV. Allegro01:56
• Cello Sonata No. 9 in A Major, I.91:
• 33Cello Sonata No. 9 in A Major, I.91: I. Largho03:02
• 34Cello Sonata No. 9 in A Major, I.91: II. Presto02:08
• 35Cello Sonata No. 9 in A Major, I.91: III. Non tanto adagio02:49
• 36Cello Sonata No. 9 in A Major, I.91: IV. Fugha01:38
• Cello Sonata No. 10 in C Minor, I.83:
• 37Cello Sonata No. 10 in C Minor, I.83: I. Largho02:10
• 38Cello Sonata No. 10 in C Minor, I.83: II. Allegro02:08
• 39Cello Sonata No. 10 in C Minor, I.83: III. Adagio02:02
• 40Cello Sonata No. 10 in C Minor, I.83: IV. Presto01:50
• Cello Sonata No. 11 in B-Flat Major, I.93:
• 41Cello Sonata No. 11 in B-Flat Major, I.93: I. Andante02:24
• 42Cello Sonata No. 11 in B-Flat Major, I.93: II. Allegro01:56
• 43Cello Sonata No. 11 in B-Flat Major, I.93: III. Largho01:40
• 44Cello Sonata No. 11 in B-Flat Major, I.93: IV. Presto02:08
• Cello Sonata No. 12 in F Major, I.88:
• 45Cello Sonata No. 12 in F Major, I.88: I. Largho02:13
• 46Cello Sonata No. 12 in F Major, I.88: II. Allegro01:55
• 47Cello Sonata No. 12 in F Major, I.88: III. Ciciliana02:12
• 48Cello Sonata No. 12 in F Major, I.88: IV. Presto02:01
• Total Runtime01:45:39

Info for Platti: Cello Sonatas

The growing catalogue of Platti albums on Brilliant Classics includes his Cello Concertos (BC94722), his keyboard works (BC95118) and a first recording of chamber music (BC94007). Taken together they paint a vivid and engaging portrait of an 18th-century musician/composer who came to exercise on generations of composers writing for the cello. Platti himself was proficient on several instruments but he retained a special affection for the cello, producing as many as 28 cello concertos – even more than Vivaldi – and other works including the 12 accompanied cello sonatas on this album. These are divided into two groups of six, both dated 1725 – just a few years after Bach’s cello suites.

The Italian cellist Francesco Galligioni has himself recorded much of the most significant Baroque solo-cello repertoire for Brilliant Classics, with albums of cello sonatas by Vivaldi (BC95346) and Lanzetti (BC95525) and the enormously influential solo Capricci by dell’Abaco (BC95762). For this album he has returned to the original manuscripts and chosen to record the two sets with different continuo accompaniments – with organ for the first set and violone for the second – making it unique as a considered and stylish response to this rarely recorded repertoire.

‘Galligioni is absolutely steeped in the idiom of Vivaldi’s cello writing and surmounts the technical challenges of these sonatas with consummate ease.’ (Early Music Review)

‘My respect for Dall’Abaco’s 11 Capricci is growing by leaps and bounds, and Galligioni’s playing of them is first-class.’ (Fanfare)

‘These are performances which marry color and expression to intelligence and good taste. Francesco Galligioni sings warmly through his Baroque cello, phrases with freedom, and ornaments persuasively on repeats... For those who regard an Italian Vivaldi as the “real deal,” this version might be essential.’ (Fanfare)

Giovanni Benedetto Platti (1697-1763) was born in Venice where he studied with Francesco Gasparini and Giovanni Legrenzi. In 1722 he left Italy for Germany, settling in Würzburg in the service of the Prince Bishop Johann Philipp von Schönborn.

Platti successfully bridged the worlds of the Baroque and Classicism. A remarkably versatile musician, performing as a keyboard player, cellist, oboist, violinist and singer, he wrote in a wide range of different genres and styles, in Venetian bel canto tradition, fusing baroque elements with the elegance and simplicity of the emerging Stile Galante.

This double album set contains the 12 Sonatas for Cello and Basso Continuo, music of great melodic invention and virtuosity.

Excellent performances in Historically Informed Performance Practice by Francesco Galligioni, one of the leading Baroque cellists of today. He worked with John Elliott Gardiner, Gustav Leonhardt, Christopher Hogwood, Diego Fasolis, and recorded for Archiv, Sony, Chandos and Brilliant. For Brilliant Classics he successfully recorded works by Lanzetti, Vivaldi (complete cello concertos and sonatas with L’Arte dell’Arco), Dall’Abaco and Albinoni.

Francesco Galligioni, cello
Members of L’Arte dell’Arco

Francesco Galligioni
obtained a Diploma in cello at the C. Pollini Conservatoire in Padua under G. Chiampan, then he then studied with Franco Maggio Ormezowski at both the Accademia Nazionale di S. Cecilia in Rome and at the A. Toscanini Foundation in Parma in the courses for soloists and orchestra leaders.

He has taken part in courses specializing in baroque cello held by W. Vestidello and G. Nasillo, and worked with famous soloists and conductors (Anner Bylsma, Giuliano Carmignola, Cecilia Bartoli, Max Emmanuel Cencic, Magdalena Kozena, Sergio Azzolini, Sara Mingardo, Victoria Mullova, Angelika Kirschlagher, Andrea Marcon, Federico Guglielmo, Sir J. E. Gardiner, Diego Fasolis, Pedro Halffter, Bob Van Asperen, Michael Radulescu, Gustav Leonhardt, Christopher Hogwood), both in concert performances and recordings.

His passion for early music led him to study viola da gamba with Paolo Biordi at the Conservatoire in Florence, where he obtained the Diploma in 2004, followed in 2007 by a first class degree with a thesis on the relationship between the arpeggione, viola da gamba and baroque cello, with a performance on this latter instrument of the famous sonata.

A founding member of the Accademia di S. Rocco and later of the Venice Baroque Orchestra, he has played first cello in the foremost concert venues, including the Royal Albert Hall and Barbican Hall (London), Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall (New York), JFK Center for Performing Arts (Washington DC), Tonhalle (Zurich), Konzerthaus (Berlin), Het Concertgebow (Amsterdam), Musikverein and Konzerthaus (Vienna), Kyoi hall (Tokyo), Opera Berlioz (Montpellier), Théâtre des Champs-Elysées (Paris), W. Disney City Hall (Los Angeles), Gran Teatro La Fenice (Venice).

He has recorded for ARCHIV (Deutsche Grammophon), Arts, ORF, Chandos, Brilliant, Naxos and Sony Classical. With this latter label he played first cello and soloist with the Venice Baroque Orchestra, as well as performing in various chamber ensembles, including in Trio with G. Carmignola and L. Kirtzof and in sonatas with A. Bylsma.

His concerts as a soloist have been broadcast by WDR, ORF, SWR2 and MDR (concerto for violin and cello by A. Vivaldi with G. Carmignola), as well as by ABC, NPR, BBC3, RDP and Japanese television while touring in Japan in September 2005.

The ensembles with which he has played lead parts include Sonatori della Gioiosa Marca, Orchestra Barocca del Friuli Venezia Giulia “G.B.Tiepolo”, I Barocchisti, Oman Consort, Arte dell’Arco, Gambe di Legno Consort, i Virtuosi delle Muse, Opera Stravagante. In 2006 he was guest cello soloist with the Gran Canaria Philharmonic Orchestra.

In 2007 he taught at the Ludwigsburger Akademie summer courses, and played as soloist with the orchestra in the Salzburg Festspiele at the Musikverein Grosser Saal in Vienna, the Tonhalle in Zurich, the Victoria Hall in Geneva, the Barbican in London, the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées in Paris. In November-December 2008, he took part in a chamber music tour with cellist Mario Brunello with concerts in Florence, Milan, Turin and Rome in Italy, and then in Japan.

In recent years Galligioni has also focused on contemporary music on period instruments, playing works by composers such as Philip Glass, Giovanni Sollima, G. Bersanetti, J. Tavener. In 2011 he was the soloist in the Vivaldi Concerto RV531 with cellist Gautier Capuchon.

His recording of the complete cello concertos by Vivaldi was recently released in a 4 CD set by Brilliant Classics, who also released his recording of Vivaldi’s six printed sonatas. A 5 CD set of Salvatore Lanzetti’s printed sonatas and dall’Abaco capricci.

Galligioni plays a cello made by Paolo Antonio Testore in 1740 and a viola da gamba dating back to the early 1700s.

He has taught cello at the Conservatoires of Lecce, Reggio Calabria, Genoa and Adria, and currently teaches the same instrument at the A. Steffani Conservatoire in Castelfranco Veneto (TV), and the viola da gamba at the J. Tomadini Conservatoire in Udine.

Booklet for Platti: Cello Sonatas