Extravagantes Seicento: Sonatas for Violon and viola da gamba at the Habsburg court

The focus of Extravagantes Seicento is the musical exuberance of a century full of contradictions, and at the same time receptive towards all kinds of novelty. By means of a rich collection of instrumental sonatas for violin, viola da gamba and harpsichord, the recording portrays the peregrine world of composers and instrumentalists who travelled throughout Europe in their search for receptive cultural circles and the degree of financial stability required for the creation of new works. In particular the Habsburg courts of Vienna and Innsbruck attracted artists from Italy and central Europe, becoming hubs for innovation in the visual arts, the theatre and instrumental music. Under the imperial protection of Ferdinand III, Leopold I and Archduke Ferdinand Karl of Austria, the great violinists of the 17th century Ignazio Albertini, Giovanni Padonolfi Mealli, Samuel Capricornus, Heinrich Schmelzer and Ignaz Biber expanded the technical potential of the violin and the viola da gamba, producing a repertoire of highly melodious sonatas featuring virtuoso brilliance and such eccentricity of sound as to surprise or even disconcert audiences, both then and today.
Winner of the Weichlein prize at the International H.I.F. Biber Competition in 2013, the Girandole Armoniche ensemble is made up of Esther Crazzolara (violin), who also plays with the Giardino Armonico and the Accademia Bizantina, Teodoro Baù (viola da gamba), finalist at the Bruges Competition and winner of the Bach Abel Competition in 2015, and Federica Bianchi (harpsichord), winner of the Haendel-Göttingen prize in 2013 and already a name in the world of early keyboard instruments who also plays with Il Pomo d'Oro and Les Musiciens du Louvre.