LUIGI GATTI 1740–1817

THREE CONCERTOS

World premiere recordings

CONCERTONE IN D FOR 2 VIOLINS AND ORCHESTRA L7e.1

1 I. Maestoso con brio (cadenza by Luigi Gatti) 9’39

2 II. Larghetto espressivo 8’23

3 III. Allegro con brio 5’49

Paolo Ghidoni violin I · Rita Mascagna violin II · Pietro Bosna cello

Orchestra dei Ducati / Fausto Pedretti

CONCERTO IN F FOR BASSOON AND ORCHESTRA L7e.4

4 I. Allegro spiritoso 10’03

5 II. Romance: Adagio sostenuto 6’05

6 III. Allegro assai (reconstructed by Giordano Fermi) 3’04

Stefano Canuti bassoon

Orchestra da Camera del Conservatorio di Musica di Mantova / Fausto Pedretti

CONCERTO IN C FOR PIANO AND ORCHESTRA L7e.5

7 I. Allegro con spirito 11’48

8 II. Alla Romance: Andante larghetto 8’12

9 III. Rondò: Allegro 6’16

Paolo Ghidoni, Rita Mascagne (Violins)

Pietro Bosna (Cello); Stefano Canuti (Bassoon)

Andrea Denbech (Pianoforte)

Orchestra Dei Ducati / Fausto Pedretti (Conductor)

Orchestra Del Conservatorio Di Mantova / Luca Bertazzi (Conductor)

Not the conductor Daniele Gatti (though he has been known to compose), or indeed the great Gatti-Casazza, moonlighting from his wheeling and dealing around La Scala: but Luigi Gatti, 1740–1817: a long-lived, prolific, almost completely unknown Classical figure whose name is largely remembered, if at all, for its tangential appearance in Mozart’s life and letters. Leopold and Wolfgang first bumped into Gatti in Mantua, in 1770, by which time he was already a respected Abbé, ordained and in charge of music and musicians. But it was when Gatti snared the post of Kapellmeister at Salzbug Cathedral that he crossed the family; for Leopold had coveted the job for himself, and indeed had no mean claim to it, but the city’s Prince Archbishop would not hear of it, and indeed demonstrated his distaste for the Mozart family in perpetuity by relieving Wolfgang of his responsibilities as a court and church composer – and the much-needed salary that went with them – with (according to the family correspondence) ‘a kick up the arse’.

So, Gatti: Here are three delightful Classical concertos, in period-instrument performances, made live in Mantua and Milan. The scores have been dusted off and freshly edited, and reveal a musical voice not circumscribed by time or place: he adjusted to the new, more complex, post-Classical style led by Hummel in the decades after Mozart’s death, as the Piano Concerto shows.

First recordings

Detailed notes

The first in a series devoted to Gatti’s music

Brilliant Classics 94146