Early Music Review (November 2009)

The five sonatas on this disc have survived in a MS of 18th-century violin sonatas now in a private collection. A large library of such material in one of the Madrid royal palaces was destroyed during the Civil War, so the discovery of these works in 1998 and publication in a modern edition is something of a miracle, especially since the original is not accessible to scholars. Blai Justo plays two sonatas accompanied by cello and early guitar, two with cello and slightly later guitar, and one (in what some think is the "authentic" scoring) with only one cello accompaniment. The booklet note is right to say that the guitar does not upset the balance between the bowed stringed instruments in the way that harpsichord can, and varying the plucked instrument according to the character of the music is also a sensible approach to this attractive collection. I was slightly disappointed that the cellist didn't take up the chance to show off her harmonic abilities by throwing in some chords; but the violin part has some doubble-stopping, so perhaps the performers agreed that the bajo should simply be that — a foundation for his solo part. This is certainly a very interesting release, well played and beautifully recorded.

BC