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Corelli & Handel: Sonatas - Michaela Koudelkova on CD

The name of the young Czech virtuoso Michaela Koudelkova should be

committed well to memory. She has far more going for her than just

the names of her teachers (Peter Holtslag, Erik Bosgraaf). She is a winner

of the Tel Aviv Recorder Competition and a finalist of the York Early Music

International Young Artists Competition in England, and her solo recitals have

included an appearance at the prestigious Oude Muziek Festival in Utrecht.

Her Supraphon debut, for which she has chosen masterworks by Handel

and Corelli, showcases her uncompromising technique, but above all it shows

her supreme musical sensitivity and her interpretive stylishness, including

the ability to improvise, participating in the recreation of notated works.

Of all the sonatas listed on the album, only one is intended for her instrument;

the rest were originally for violin or transverse flute. Of course, a characteristic

of the baroque era was great freedom in the choice of solo instruments,

as is clear from period printed editions, and the recorder was very popular

at the time. Besides the most common alto and soprano recorders,

the recording also features an instrument with a darker timbre, the voice

flute in D, which was popular in England, and the sixth flute, pitched an octave

higher and often used for music played between acts of Handel's London

operas. Besides sonatas by Handel, the soloist has also chosen three sonatas

from Corelli's Opus 5. Over the centuries, the art of improvisation has been

taught using the passaggi in the slow movements of the twelve violin sonatas

in this iconic collection. The last and most famous sonata, "Follia", is the brilliant

and rather experimental climax of the album, combining the creativity

of the composer with that of the performers.

Lightness, liveliness, spontaneity, bravura, intoxicating richness of sound -

Michaela Koudelkova's exciting Handel and Corelli