Paisiello: 6 Flute Quartets Op.23 (youtube, 2020)

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Paisiello: 6 Flute Quartets Op.23

Composer: Giovanni Paisiello (1740-1816)

Artists: Il Demetrio (ensemble), Gabriele Formenti (flute) 

Cover: "Girl lost in contemplation of an image of the Virgin 1853", by Georg Waldmüller (1793–1865)

As far as we can tell Paisiello’s flute quartets were written in Naples in 1800, as were Ci-marosa’s more or less at the same time. They were likely composed with dilettante ama-teur players in mind: a commercial audience that was rapidly increasing at the time, as the sudden establishment and flourishing of music-publishing houses across Europe demonstrated. The sonatas are gentle and undemanding works, cast in two movements apart from the single-movement Sixth. The flute carries most of the melodic interest and engages in live-ly duet writing with the violin, while a cello and harpsichord offer a solid foundation and deft accompaniment. Even the quicksilver passagework of the flute part lies within the range of a competent amateur, and there is much pleasure to be taken from melodies of a quality that made Paisiello the toast of Europe as an operacomposer, pleasing public taste with more immediate success than Mozart. 

Tracklist 00:00:00 Giovanni Paisiello: 6 Flute Quartets, Op. 23 No. 1 in C Major, R. E.09: I. Allegro moderato 00:06:01 Giovanni Paisiello: 6 Flute Quartets, Op. 23 No. 1 in C Major, R. E.09: II. Minuetto 00:08:53 Giovanni Paisiello: 6 Flute Quartets, Op. 23 No. 2 in D Major, R. E.06: I. Andante poco adagio 00:12:02 Giovanni Paisiello: 6 Flute Quartets, Op. 23 No. 2 in D Major, R. E.06: II. Rondo. Allegretto 00:15:59 Giovanni Paisiello: 6 Flute Quartets, Op. 23 No. 3 in E Minor, R. E.10: I. Allegro spirituoso 00:22:45 Giovanni Paisiello: 6 Flute Quartets, Op. 23 No. 3 in E Minor, R. E.10: II. Minuetto 00:24:55 Giovanni Paisiello: 6 Flute Quartets, Op. 23 No. 4 in G Major, R. E.08: I. Poco adagio 00:28:01 Giovanni Paisiello: 6 Flute Quartets, Op. 23 No. 4 in G Major, R. E.08: II. Rondo. Allegro moderato 00:34:08 Giovanni Paisiello: 6 Flute Quartets, Op. 23 No. 5 in G Major, R. E.07: I. Andante 00:36:25 Giovanni Paisiello: 6 Flute Quartets, Op. 23 No. 5 in G Major, R. E.07: II. Rondo 00:41:38 Giovanni Paisiello: 6 Flute Quartets, Op. 23 No. 6 in G Major, R. E.11: I. Allegro