Giovanni Battista Viotti composed 29 violin concertos, three Sinfonie concertanti, a cello concerto, countless quartets, at least 20 trios for two violins and cello as well as an impressive series of violin duos, four of which are recorded here.

Described in contemporary accounts as a generous and highly charismatic musician driven by idealistic zeal, he is now widely regarded as one of the greatest violinists of all time. In retrospect, it is clear that he and his extensive body of work occupied a key position in history.

He emerged at a crucial time between the end of the Ancien Régime and the beginning of the modern era: a time when, socially, music was beginning to escape the courts and entertain the growing middle classes, laying the foundations for modern concert-going and the figure of the freelance musician.

A period in which different national traditions, both in terms of instruments and compositions, began to clash and influence each other with unprecedented dynamism, and in which the formal rigor of classicism gave way to the pathos of romanticism.

Viotti was at the center of this period of dramatic change: the standard-bearer of a centuries-old Italian violin school that included Arcangelo Corelli, Antonio Vivaldi, Pietro Locatelli, Giuseppe Tartini and Viotti's teacher Gaetano Pugnani. He took the technical achievements of this prestigious group from the Baroque and Galant styles into a new era, in which the arrival of Niccolò Paganini was imminent.

He was admired by Mozart, inspired the virtuosity of Paganini's concertos, played a central role in the development of British musical life due to his years in London and must surely be regarded as the most important personality of the entire French violin school. Later violin giants such as Pierre Rode, Rodolphe Kreutzer and Pierre Baillot were all strongly influenced by his work. Viotti's famous cantabile style can be found in the violin compositions of Ludwig van Beethoven and Johannes Brahms and is abundantly represented in the four violin duos on this album.

Further information:
Recorded in November 2022, Cagliari, Italy The booklet in English contains liner notes by Carlo Goldstein Gianmaria Melis plays a Sanctus Seraphin from 1745; Fabrizio Falasca plays a J. Guarneri from 1727.

Giovanni Battista Viotti (1755-1824) received his musical training from Gaetano Pugnani. He served for a short time at the court of the Savoys in Turin, but soon spread his wings and traveled to Paris, where he was immediately successful as an outstanding violin virtuoso. He served for a time at the court of Versailles before founding an opera house (Théâtre de Monsieur) in Paris. The French Revolution forced him to go abroad and he settled in London, where he performed in the Hanover Square concert series and was active as a concert organizer and impresario as well as one of the founders of the Philharmonic Society of London.

Viotti was an influential violinist and teacher. He composed violin concertos, string quartets and other chamber music for strings. Based on the principles of the Viennese classics, it hints at more romantic sentiments of times to come. This new recording presents the Duos for 2 violins, music of great charm, rich in melody and brilliantly written for both instruments, which are completely equal to each other. Played by Fabrizio Falasca and Gianmaria Melis, who play a Guerneri violin from 1727 and a Sanctus Seraphin violin from 1745.