"Thus claimed the Romantic poet and composer Ernst Theodor Amadeus Hoffman with gentle resignation in 1814 on the subject of 'the sacred art of composition'. For that advocate of contemporary music Charles Burney, too, telling of his travels through Europe, Leonardo Leo was one of the unchallenged protagonists of the golden 'Augustan age of music' which, in his view, was the first half of the eighteenth century. And in 1761 the eponymous nephew in Denis Diderot's 'Le Neveu de Rameau' says in admiration: 'When nature created Leo, Vinci, Pergolese and Duni, it was smiling.'
"Who was this man, who is now consigned almost exclusively to music history books but who was venerated by his contemporaries and well into the nineteenth century as one of the greatest Italian masters (his pupil Niccolò Piccinni even called him the great Italian master of all)?
"Leo was a composer, conductor, organist and teacher who worked mostly in Naples; born in 1694, he stood at the border between two epochs - one foot in the Baroque, the other in early Classicism. The ambivalence of the era of transition, which has unjustly affected his long-term reputation, gives enigmatic facets to his profile as a composer. As a practical and theoretical innovator in the area of 'strict counterpoint', he became a figurehead of conservative church musicians; as an opera composer, whose praises Burney never tired of singing, he dominated the Neapolitan musical scene in the 1720s and 1730s; and as an instrumental musician he stood at the cradle of the symphony: 'The high standard that could be attained by Italian symphonies is shown by the oratorio introductions by Leonardo Leo [...] They represent great, noble mourning in music that is immortal and a model for all times' (Hermann Kretzschmar).
"Alongside his sacred music (which includes a famous eight-part 'Miserere' that was highly regarded by both Verdi and Wagner), his numerous operas (more than thirty 'opere serie' and more than twenty 'commedie musicali') and various oratorios, Leo's purely instrumental works are admittedly few in number. They consist principally of keyboard music, trios, a concerto for four violins (!) and, above all, the six concertos for cello, strings and basso continuo that wrote in 1737/38 for the exclusive use of Domenico Marzio Caraffa, Duke of Maddaloni ('per solo servizio di Sua Eccellenza il Signore Duca di Madalone', as Leo noted on the title page of the manuscript). Caraffa, who also employed Giovanni Battista Pergolesi, was a patron of Leo's and an amateur cellist, and it is thus tempting to presume that these six masterpieces were composed in response to a commission from the Duke.
"And masterpieces they are. Leo was one of the first composers to liberate the cello from the figurative bustle of thankless basso continuo past (as late as 1752, Johann Joachim Quantz wrote: 'The provision of a good accompaniment is the foremost duty demanded of this instrument') and to take its full, rich tone into account with songful, expressive melodies in quantities that have no equal in the cello concerto repertoire before Leo. Only perhaps Pergolesi, who was sixteen years younger than Leo, achieved similar results in his 'Sinfonia' for cello and basso continuo, which was probably also written for the Duke of Maddaloni. The aloof, arhacic intellectualism, however, of which Leo's sacred music was occasionally accused, and which was responsible for drawing him into one of the popular and, of course, unjustified 'querelles' (a circle of 'Leisti' formed around Leo, whilst on the other side the 'Durantisti' paid homage to a more emotional ideal that was embodied by Francesco Durante), is here as good as 'struck out'. At any rate, movement headings and performance indications such as 'Andante grazioso' and 'Amoroso' are external indications of an inner proximity to New Simplicity, which comes to the for sometimes also with the opera-derived marking 'mezza voce' (toned down, but not with mutes), but also affects the faster movements in the manner of 'singing 'Allegros'' and can contribute an abundance of 'modern', gallant ornamentation to an 'Andante grazioso' such as that found in the D minor concerto.
"In formal terms, too, Leo is far more than just a figure of nostalgic conversation, however much he followed the four-movement, slow-fast-slow sequence of the traditional 'Sonata da chiese' (although this is very rarely found in solo concertos). In the first movements he emphatically tackled the question of sonata form (highly unusual in Naples at that time), combining it with the baroque concerto principle to form a 'concertante' drama that would be refined by Mozart and Haydn into 'classicism'. Hardly at all, however, does Leo's sonata form explore the concept of 'development' that was later to prove so significant; instead, it concentrates essentially on the contrast of themes (powerful - lyrical) and tonal situations (tonic - dominant/minor parallels), which are connected at various level with the dualistic disposition of the concerto (solo - tutti).
"The stylistic dualism that here becomes evident within a single type of movement also characterizes the form at a more general level. Two of the movements, for example, are fugues (the fourth movement of the 'Concerto in D major' and the second movement of the 'Sinfonia concertata' in C minor); there are numerous brilliant fugatos or imitations (for example, at the beginning of the magical minor-key 'Larghetto' of the first 'Concerto in A major') and, naturally, Leo's writing is characterized throughout by the skilful use of polyphony - strikingly, also in the solo passages, which otherwise often tend towards uninterrupted monody, a feature which may indeed be in the nature of solo concertos.
"Leo paid faithful attention to another primary characterisitc of the solo concerto, namely the display of virtuosity. To judge from the demands made by the solo part, the Duke must have been a 'dilettante' in the best sense of the word, an excellent advocate of his instrument, which is here required to be played not only with technical virtuosity but also with very sophisticated and expressive creative power - a small step in the history of the solo concerto, perhaps, but a giant leap for the cello." (Horst A. Scholz, 2000. From the liner notes.)
Performers: Orchestra 'Van Wasenaer', Makoto Akatsu, Hidemi Suzuki
1. Cello Concerto No. 4 In A Major: I. Andante Piacevole
2. Cello Concerto No. 4 In A Major: II. Allegro
3. Cello Concerto No. 4 In A Major: III. Larghetto E Gustoso
4. Cello Concerto No. 4 In A Major: IV. Allegro
5. Cello Concerto No. 5 In F Minor: I. Andante Grazioso
6. Cello Concerto No. 5 In F Minor: II. Allegro
7. Cello Concerto No. 5 In F Minor: III. Segue Il Cantabile - Largo E Gustoso
8. Cello Concerto No. 5 In F Minor: IV. Allegro
9. Cello Concerto No. 1 In A Major: I. Andantino Grazioso
10. Cello Concerto No. 1 In A Major: II. Allegro
11. Cello Concerto No. 1 In A Major: III. Larghetto A Mezza Voce
12. Cello Concerto No. 1 In A Major: IV. (Allegro)
13. Cello Concerto No. 3 In D Minor: I. Andante Grazioso
14. Cello Concerto No. 3 In D Minor: II. (Con Spirito)
15. Cello Concerto No. 3 In D Minor: III. Amoroso - Mezza Voce
16. Cello Concerto No. 3 In D Minor: IV. Allegro
17. Cello Concerto No. 2 In D Major: I. Andante Grazioso
18. Cello Concerto No. 2 In D Major: II. Con Bravura
19. Cello Concerto No. 2 In D Major: III. Larghetto, Con Poco Moto
20. Cello Concerto No. 2 In D Major: IV. Fuga
21. Cello Concerto No. 2 In D Major: V. (Allegro Di Molto)
22. Cello Concerto No. 6 In C Minor 'Sinfonia Concertata': I. Andante Grazioso
23. Cello Concerto No. 6 In C Minor 'Sinfonia Concertata': II. Presto
24. Cello Concerto No. 6 In C Minor 'Sinfonia Concertata': III. Larghetto
25. Cello Concerto No. 6 In C Minor 'Sinfonia Concertata': IV. Allegro
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