Ensemble Il Narvalo & Federico del Sordo - Corradini: Canzonas and Sonatas (2023)

Works attributable with certainty to Nicolò Corradini (1585–1646) – likely from Cremona as opposed to Bergamo or Rome as erroneously suggested in the past – are limited to a few printed editions, among them the Primo libro de Canzoni francesi a 4 e alcune suonate (a copy of which has come down to us, printed by Gardano in Venice in 1624). It includes ten French canzonas and four sonatas, works most likely conceived to be performed by several instrumentalists, including one or more possible continuists (because of the speed of some passages and the separation between different parts of often more than an octave).

The canzonas are divided into several sections with structures ranging from simple A-B-A to more complex schemes (A-B-C-A-B-D in the Eighth Canzon); these short musical frameworks offer within them a great variety of themes, imitation between parts and repetitions of sections, ensuring cohesiveness of form.

The sonatas on the other hand – with the exception of the Suonata a tre (a simple A-B-C-D-A) – are presented in a more madrigalistic vein. The narrative pathway on which they are based passes through multiple melodic cues so completely different from one another as to suggest a rhetorical structure arching from an exordium to a final peroration. This leads to a proliferation of sections – A-B-C-D-E-F-G-H-I in the case of the Suonata a due cornetti in risposta. (The specification for two cornets “in call and response” contained in the title of this sonata corresponds to the numerous segments of this piece in which the same melody is first proposed by one performer and then repeated by the other.)

Tracklist
01. Corradini: Canzon prima - La Pallavicina
02. Corradini: Canzon seconda - La Sartirana
03. Corradini: Canzon terza - L'argenta
04. Corradini: Canzon quarta - La Sforza
05. Corradini: Canzon quinta - La Visconta
06. Corradini: Canzon sexta - La Sincopata
07. Corradini: Canzon settima - La Bizzarra
08. Corradini: Canzon ottava - La Treccha
09. Corradini: Canzon nona - La Pessa
10. Corradini: Canzon decima - La Taverna
11. Corradini: Suonata a quattro, 2 bassi & 2 soprani - La Soragna
12. Corradini: Suonata a tre, basso & 2 soprani - La Marcha
13. Corradini: Suonata a due, basso & soprano - La Sfrondata
14. Corradini: Suonata a due cornetti in risposta - La Golferamma