Roman

Through this exciting recording, the

violinist Fabio Biondi pursues his

exploration of the seventeenth- and

eighteenth-century repertoire for solo

violin. Two years after his complete

recording of Johann Sebastian Bach's

solo Sonatas and Partitas (V 5467), he

lands on entirely unknown territory,

the Assaggi by the Swedish composer

Johan Helmich Roman (1694-1758).

Rarely lasting more than twelve

minutes, the Assaggi is thus a

fascinating melting-pot of multiple

aesthetics in vogue in Europe at the

beginning of the eighteenth century.

Fabio Biondi champions this little

known territory of the European late

baroque with a voracious generosity

and highly eloquent sense of phrase.

In his own time Roman was an

important figure in the violin world. His

career led him to the four corners of

Europe, affording him the opportunity

to meet many crucially important figures

on the German and more southern

musical stages, composers as well as

renowned performers, especially when

he was in Italy, where he visited Tartini.

He also played with Handel. In Dresden

he met Pisendel, then dazzling everyone

with his playing. In Hamburg, he

probably met Telemann, whose

Fantasias for Solo Violin, a highly creative

and secret aspect of the great North

German baroque master's work, he

studied intensely.

All of these encounters had a long-term

influence on Johan Helmich Roman's

style, a different and important take on

les goûts reunis. If the highly polyphonic

structures of the Assaggi naturally

reminds us of the Swede's Saxon origins

(BeRI 314), if their study-like nature

willingly brings to mind the twenty-four

Fantasias of Telemann, works as much

intended for professional musicians as

for accomplished amateurs (the last

movement of BeRI 310), the harmonies,

which like the melodic outlines in

Roman's work are subtly tinged with an

Italianate flavour, clearly recall

contrasting works by Tartini (the second

part of BeRI 320 for instance, or again

the Andante of BeRI 324).