PRODUKTBESCHREIBUNGEN
Between the last quarter of the seventeenth and the first half of the eighteenth centuries there was a true flourishing of cellists in Naples. Neapolitan cello virtuosi, often educated in one of four conservatories, were acclaimed as the leading soloists of the time, both in the Neapolitan viceregno and in the major European courts. Francesco Paolo Tomaso Supriani (1678-1753) was one of the leading among them. Due to his considerable talent, he was selected to play in the Royal Chapel of Barcelona, but later moved back to Italy where he was employed in the Neapolitan Royal Chapel. He authored the earliest Italian method for the cello, whence he derived the set of Sonate per 2 violoncelli e basso. In each sonata the original melody, transcribed in the upper part has been supplemented by a plain bass line, while the second cello part presents spectacular virtuosic diminutions of the original melodic outline of the toccatas. The approach taken in this recording demonstrates that Supriani’s embellished versions can be used as a fine model to recreate and expand on the original performance of solo as well as continuo parts of the eighteenth-century literature.