EIisabeth Chojnacka, cIavecin Sperrhake
Released 1979 by Erato, Editions Costallat Stereo STU 71163
Enregistrement realise en novembre 1977 en la Maison des Arts et de la Culture de Créteil
(Revision et Transcription: P. Samuel Rubio)
(Union Musicale Espagnole – Madrid)
Prise de son: Yolanta Skura
au recto: L. Paret y Alcazar – repetition d’une comedle – Madrid, Prado, photo Giraudon, maquette de Jacques Vatoux
au verso photo (portrait of Elisabeth) Dominique Souse – Paris.
Sticker at the labels by the catalogue system of the Swiss Television. It was part of their collection in the past.

Face 1
00:00 SONATE N° 48 EN UT MINEUR (2’50)
02:53 SONATE N° 24 EN RE MINEUR (6’15)
09:13 SONATE N° 19 EN SOL MINEUR (5’59)
15:03 SONATE N° 81 EN SOL MINEUR (2’55) * Had to replace a damaged theme by a repeat
18:06 SONATE N° 21 EN DO DIESE MINEUR (6’07)* Had to replace a damanged repeat by the original theme at the very end

Face 2
24:16 FANDANGO (11’00)
35:22 SONATE N° 90 EN FA DIESE MAJEUR (5’22)
41:51 SONATE EN SI BEMOL MAJEUR “double” (8’50) R. 454 (No. 132) , M. 25 (thanks Taka todo1)
46:16 R. 441 (No. 119) , M. 26 (thanks Taka todo1)

The Catalan organist, harpsichordist, maestro de capilla and theoretician Antonio Soler is one of the most appealing of eighteenth-century Spanish composers, notable not only for his sacred vocal music but also for his incidental music to plays and for his instrumental works. Soler was the son of a regimental musician. At the age of six he entered the Escolania at Montserrat, a famous abbey where he enjoyed seven years of education on advanced lines (he was taught by Miguel Lopez and Jose Elias). After leaving this quasiconservatoire he became maestro de capilla at Lerida Cathedral while still under twenty. His talents came to the notice of the superior of the Hieronymites of St Laurence of the Escurial, who offered him the post of organist and maestro de capilla at this royal monastery near Madrid. Soler spent the rest of his life there, making his solemn profession as a monk in 1752. He was an indefatigable worker and composed a vast amount of music, while at the same time continuing his studies under the guidance of Jose de Nebra, organist and second maestro de capilla at the royal chapel, and Domenico Scarlatti (though Scarlatti died in 1757). The king chose Soler to teach music to his sons Don Antonio and Don Gabriel de Bourbon. There were a number of harpsichords in the royal palace, two of which probably had sixteen-fpot tone, and also a fortepiano – a fact that deserves mentioning, as it accounts for certain features of Soler’s keyboard style. After this brief biographical sketch the reader will not be surprised to learn that Soler wrote a defence of the new style of his Catalan teachers (his book, Llave de la modulacion y antiguedades de la musica (Madrid, 1762), became famous, and sparked off a controversy that raged all over the Iberian Peninsula) ; that he belonged to the school of Scarlatti; that he found inspiration in the expressive potential of the new keyboard instruments; and that he succeeded in developing a new chamber music style (cf. his quintets), without continuo, which shows marked similarities to that of the school of Mannheim.

#Sperrhake #ElisabethChojnacka