Giuseppe Tartini–L’arte del arco; Variations on Gavotte from Corelli’s Op.5, No.10

L’arte dell’arco o siano cinquanta [50] variazioni per violino, e sempre collo stesso basso composte dal Sigr. Giuseppe Tartini sopra alla più bella gauotta del Corelli

Outtakes of Recording Day – 16 8 17 St Michaels Highgate, London

Peter Sheppard Skaerved – Violin (Girolamo Amati), Bow-copy of Tartini’s bow by Antonino Airenti

A note – Autumn 2019

I thought long and hard before making this recording, and it’s on  my mind now as it is really time that I released it. Most people well Tartini’s ‘Corelli Variations’ through a number of abbreviated  versions, most famous, and actually rather marvellous, for violin and piano, made by Fritz Kreisler. It’s of course, the way that I came to them.

Naturally, the original version,  very rarely performed, as it is not only an hour long set of variation, but a hour long display of restraint,  of classical understatement, which is not something everyone understands or enjoys.

After studying the work for years, and thinking about what the piece, maybe, about, I came the to conclusion, that like a number of Tartini’s works, it was not necessarily best served by being played with continuo, as it is notated, but not only stands well, alone, but benefits from the approach. Tartini himself seems to have moved towards this conclusion as he wrote his Piccole Sonate in the last decades of this life, which he initiated with a bass line, later dropped, and also noted about these ( and perhaps other ‘continuo’ sonatas) that he played them ‘sin basseto’ and that was his ‘true intention’.

I also find that this is consideration which needs to be taken in to account, when looking at the whole development of playing ‘divisions’ from Simpson, through Baltzar, Biber, up to and beyond Bach’s Chaconne. It’s very clear that we have a tendency to view these kind of works, as a sort of excitement/emotional energy-building exercise. I believed  that one of the revolutions of Tartin’si innovations, was to focus the ear and mind of listener and player, on the syntax, grammar and rhetoric which which variations are  being endowed, as they emerge. This is often not best served by a continuo, which naturally has a tendency to get involved, to improviseand elaborate, both texturally and textually,  obscuring  the finesse of what a composer/player like Tartini is exploring, the detail of bow distribution, very precise exploration of finely balanced ornamentation, and felicities of chordal writing.

So I choose, I prefer to play this piece alone. I am not claiming that it is right. It’s just personal. And I am willing to admit, that it may just display a deficient, a lack of understanding on my part. But there it is.