Little has been heard of Giovanni Battista Somis the composer and his works have failed to reappear in the concert hall even after several decades of historically informed performance practice. This state of affairs is even more surprising given the high musical quality of his works. Together with Johannes Hammerle, Wolfram Schurig plays several pieces of Somis and adapts them for the musical duo of flauto and cembalo.

Even three centuries after his death, Arcangelo Corelli remains a well-known composer. His students who knew him and could hand his style down first hand, however, have not stood the test of time as well. On this recording, a sonata by the Master is featured. In addition, three compositions have been selected from the excellent violinists who studied under Corelli. Aside from the Corelli sonata, the other works are world premiere recordings. Artists are Szabolcs Illes (baroque violin), Dalibor Pimek (baroque cello), and Ondrej Macek (harpsichord).

The main theme of this work of the Ensemble Chiaroscuro follows closely that of the first disc (also produced by Concerto Classics, “Baroque Enchantment”): the proposal is to collect a series of pieces to form a sort of concert program, in order to tell a true story in music, hence the title “Cello Tales”. The listener will in fact be led, through the notes of Antonio Fantinuoli cello, in a journey of rediscovery of the great masters and pioneers of the leading instrument of this recording, unearthed by a careful research of ancient manuscripts done by the same artist.

The “Sonate da Camera”, Op. 4, one of eight consecutive opuses (1-8) of published chamber works by Turin-based Giovanni Battista Somis, is a work for solo violin, cello or harpsichord. The seven 3-movement sonatas basically eliminate the slow “Corellian” third movement, thus changing the traditional alternation. Some of the harmonic sequences also recall Vivaldi and the Venetian school in general. Founded 1995, the Ensemble Guidantus and their principal violinist Marco Pedrona, noted for score mastery and clear, individual interpretations, play a lively part in the Italian music scene.