Magdalena Sypniewski - Un Italien à Paris (2025) [Official Digital Download]

The violinist Giovanni Battista Somis set off on a long journey from his native Turin to Paris, where he performed with the famous Concert spirituel at the Palais des Tuileries to great acclaim. The Mercure de France reported on the event in glowing terms: ‘The Sieur Sommis, the famous violinist of the King of Sardinia, performed various sonatas and concertos there with the utmost perfection, and was greatly applauded by the numerous audiences that the precision and brilliant execution of this great master attracted.’ Who made up these enthusiastic ‘numerous audiences’? The Mercure does not mention them. But this historical gap at least gives us the opportunity to presume the presence of some of his former pupils, now established in Paris…

In fact, the Italian master had trained the majority of the ‘sparkling pleiad’ – to use La Laurencie’s expression – of violinists of the time: Guignon, Guillemain and, of course, Leclair the Elder. Could we therefore consider the Piedmontese artist to be the father of the French school of virtuoso violin playing? Be that as it may, he passed on to his French students a brilliant instrumental technique, directly imported from Rome, where Somis himself had inherited it from Corelli: double stopping, flamboyant ornaments, staccato, and other colorful techniques would henceforth spread through the works of French violinists, thus responding to the ideal of ‘goûts-réunis’ (unified tastes), which was gaining momentum at the beginning of this century and was characterised by a desire to synthesise French and Italian styles.

TRACKLIST

1. Magdalena Sypniewski, Hanna Salzenstein, Cécile Chartrain - Somis: Sonata da camera, Op. 2 No. 1: I. Adagio
2. Magdalena Sypniewski, Hanna Salzenstein, Cécile Chartrain - Somis: Sonata da camera, Op. 2 No. 1: II. Allegro
3. Magdalena Sypniewski, Hanna Salzenstein, Cécile Chartrain - Somis: Sonata da camera, Op. 2 No. 1: III. Vivace
4. Magdalena Sypniewski, Hanna Salzenstein, Cécile Chartrain - Guignon: Sonata a violino solo é basso, Op. 1 No. 9: I. Andante
5. Magdalena Sypniewski, Hanna Salzenstein, Cécile Chartrain - Guignon: Sonata a violino solo é basso, Op. 1 No. 9: II. Allegro
6. Magdalena Sypniewski, Hanna Salzenstein, Cécile Chartrain - Guignon: Sonata a violino solo é basso, Op. 1 No. 9: III. Allegro poco
7. Magdalena Sypniewski, Hanna Salzenstein, Cécile Chartrain - Guignon: Sonata a violino solo é basso, Op. 1 No. 9: IV. Allegro gracioso
8. Magdalena Sypniewski, Hanna Salzenstein, Cécile Chartrain - Leclair "l'Aîné": Sonate à violon seul et basse continue, Op. 5 No. 12: I. Adagio
9. Magdalena Sypniewski, Hanna Salzenstein, Cécile Chartrain - Leclair "l'Aîné": Sonate à violon seul et basse continue, Op. 5 No. 12: II. Allegro ma non troppo
10. Magdalena Sypniewski, Hanna Salzenstein, Cécile Chartrain - Leclair "l'Aîné": Sonate à violon seul et basse continue, Op. 5 No. 12: III. Largo
11. Magdalena Sypniewski, Hanna Salzenstein, Cécile Chartrain - Leclair "l'Aîné": Sonate à violon seul et basse continue, Op. 5 No. 12: IV. Ciaccona



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