Giuseppe Tartini

Sonata in D Major

It was the Devil's Trill Sonata that immortalized Giuseppe Tartini (1692-1770) although said work is just one of a vast number of concertos and sonatas for strings and especially for his instrument, the violin. The present 'Sonata in Re maggiore per Violino solo' is a technically demanding, yet not cluttered work. The slow movements, the introductory Andante cantabile and the Largo headed TASSO, composed over the melody of a Venetian gondola song, give the soloist the opportunity for cantabile playing. The playful Minuetto clearly breathes the spirit of the post-Baroque era while the Allegro assai coming second mixes strongly gripping passages with beguilingly sentimental ones. The characteristic ambiguous movement is repeated after the Minuetto, thus completing the solo sonata.