(++++) TWO TRAILBLAZERS

Giovanni Battista Viotti: Violin Concertos Nos. 1-29 (complete). Franco Mezzena, violin, with Viotti Chamber Orchestra conducted by Luciano Borin (Nos. 1, 2, 8, 11, 12, 19); Franco Mezzena, violin and conducting Symphonia Perusina (Nos. 3-7, 9, 10, 13-18, 20, 22-28); Franco Mezzena, violin and conducting Orchestra da Camera Milano Classica (Nos. 21 and 29). Dynamic. $50.99 (10 CDs).

     The importance of Giovanni Battista Viotti (1755-1824) in the history of the violin can scarcely be overstated, and the significance of Franco Mezzena’s thorough and beautifully played exploration of all 29 of Viotti’s completed violin concertos should be a foregone conclusion. But somehow both Viotti and Mezzena have undeservedly remained on the periphery of their respective contributions – an unjustifiable dual neglect that will hopefully be corrected thanks to Dynamic’s excellent 10-CD re-release of Mezzena’s exploration of Viotti, originally made available in 2005 and consisting of performances from 1990 through 2004.

     Viotti, who personally knew Haydn and Beethoven, was an important influence on violinists whose names are much better known than his, including Paganini and Rodolphe Kreutzer. Viotti is likely comparatively neglected because he had few pupils of his own – and it was those he did have who in turn taught others whose fame has endured, making Viotti important more or less in a secondhand manner. In terms of violin composition and technique, though, Viotti has remained a firsthand influence, even if later violinists did not know of him directly. This is partly because Viotti’s music had a direct impact on the compositions of others, including Beethoven, and partly because Viotti’s works became the foundation of the 19^th-century French violin school. His concertos span the time period from the galant style to almost-Romanticism, making him musically something of a transitional figure – one reason his works, like those of Hummel and F.X. Mozart, tend to be neglected. But the lyricism, thematic beauty, sureness of structure and extensive exploration of performance techniques in Viotti’s concertos make them quite wonderful to hear, and having Mezzena’s survey of them again available is an unalloyed pleasure.

     The only Viotti concertos that are still played with any regularity are Nos. 22 in A minor and 23 in G, and they are among his less-challenging works to perform, because of the composer’s own history. Like Haydn, Viotti wrote music for Parisian audiences and later for British ones; Haydn’s last symphonies and Viotti’s final violin concertos were all created for English audiences and were designed for the larger orchestras in vogue in Great Britain in the 1790s and thereafter. In Viotti’s case, though, there was another factor at play: he was a composer/performer, and his skill in the latter role had diminished over time, so he made fewer demands of himself (and consequently of other violinists) in his last nine concertos. He designated Nos. 21-29 differently, too, giving them letters (starting with A) to distinguish them from the earlier works created more for Parisian taste. And these circumstances have contributed to Viotti’s not-so-benign neglect, since the two concertos most likely to be heard from time to time today are frequently performed by student violinists – advanced ones, to be sure, but branding these as “student” works makes them less appealing to virtuoso professional players.

     Yet there is so much that is absolutely wonderful in Viotti’s violin concertos that it is a tremendous shame for them to be so infrequently heard, and a tremendous pleasure to have the Mezzena cycle available again. The performances are excellent throughout, the recorded sound is very fine, the orchestral playing is first-rate, and the insightful exploration of the music is of the highest quality. This is not to say, however, that the assemblage of material is flawless. It would be reasonable to expect the concertos to be presented in chronological order and, in particular, the last nine concertos to be grouped, but that is not the case. The presentation of the works is a complete mishmash: the first two CDs include Nos. 8, 11 and 12, in that order, and 19, 1 and 2, in that sequence – and the rest of the discs are similarly mixed up. There is no rhyme or reason for this. Those first two CDs, dating to 1990 and 1991, are the only ones featuring a conductor other than Mezzena himself; discs 3-9 (from 1996 to 2002) then have Mezzena leading one ensemble, and disc 10 (from 2004) has him conducting another. All the orchestras are more than adequate, and with Viotti’s concertos assigning a very prominent role to the soloist while tending to downplay the accompaniment, matters are handled with aplomb by everyone involved.

     It is certainly true that Viotti’s violin concertos, like Vivaldi’s, have elements of predictability and of the formulaic about them. Although Viotti’s vary in length from 16 minutes to almost 32, all are in three movements; in every case, the first movement is the longest and the slow second movement the shortest; and every third movement is brightly upbeat and jaunty (often designated rondò, complete with accent, or rondeau). Structurally, almost all start with a two-to-three-minute tutti prior to the introduction of the solo violin. And all the concertos thoroughly explore multiple performance techniques – legato, staccato, spiccato, double stopping and others – within a framework of remarkably pleasant tunefulness that makes these pieces a pleasure to hear and carries them well beyond the realm of études.

     Despite the works’ similarities on certain levels, there are elements of differentiation among the concertos – beyond the circumstances of composition of the finale nine – that keep them interesting. Three of them – Nos. 16, 25 and 27 – have slow introductions to the first movement, with No. 16 being particularly intriguing because in addition to that unusual-for-Viotti opening, it is in a minor key (E minor). Actually, Viotti’s relatively high frequency of use of minor keys is one of his concertos’ distinguishing characteristics: in addition to No. 16, Nos. 14, 17, 18, 19, 22, 24, 28 and 29 are all in the minor. None of them plumbs significant emotional depth, but all have an attractively darker flavor than the major-key concertos and are high points of Mezzena’s cycle.

     All in all, it is as churlish to nitpick Viotti’s assured craftsmanship as it is to complain about the less-than-optimal presentation sequence of his concertos in this survey. It is to be hoped that the re-release will draw new attention to Viotti not only because of his historical significance but also because his concertos are poised, elegant, and  constructed with a sure hand both for their playability and for the enjoyment they bring to listeners. Interestingly, portions of three additional, incomplete Viotti violin concertos have recently been found – two movements of each – so this Mezzena compilation is not, strictly speaking, 100% complete. But that too is nitpicking: this is a highly worthwhile set of performances by any standard, and both Viotti himself and Mezzena as his advocate richly deserve as much attention as this recording can bring to both of them.