Valentine: Chamber Music

Valentine: Chamber Music
Composer Roberto Valentini
Artist Ensemble Afflatus
Enrico Casularo traverso & direction
Anne Kirchmeier recorder
Jonathan Nubel violin
Format 1 CD
Cat. number 97683
EAN code 5028421976839
Release September 2025

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About this release

New recordings of High-Baroque concertos and sonatas by a forgotten English composer living in 18th-century Rome.
Born in Leicester around 1673, Robert Valentine came from a family of musicians, but found his vocation and his career path once he moved to Rome in his 20s. Working as a violinist and flautist for several churches, he was evidently proficient in several other instruments such as the oboe, and quickly found his feet as a composer with an ear for public taste, and the ability to translate his instrumental virtuosity into original invention on the page.
The present album takes a representative sample of that fluent invention with sonatas and ‘concertos’ (also written for chamber forces) from several different collections. A Sonata for two recorders holds instant appeal for anyone captivated by Vivaldi’s writing for the instrument. A Concerto in B flat, for recorder, two violins and ensemble, is worthy of comparison with the work of the Venetian master, for its brilliance and intensity.
By contrast, the style of the ‘Concerto con Flauto Traversiero’ leans towards a crystalline simplicity, well suited to the delicate sound of the transverse flute of the period, and capable of producing those chiaroscuro effects and dynamic nuances that the recorder lacks. In each case, Valentine writes sensitively for his chosen forces. A pair of sonatas for flute and basso continuo, published in 1735 as part of Valentine’s Op.13, are effectively elegant Baroque dance-suites – whereas an Op.13 published elsewhere under Valentine’s name includes a violin sonata written in the galant style, full of rustic fanfares and flourishes.
Founded and led by the flautist Enrico Casularo, Ensemble Afflatus specialises in the performance and recording of little-known, often unpublished music from 18th-century Italy. Casulero is also an editor of this repertoire, and a teacher of Baroque flute at the Santa Cecilia conservatoire in Rome. He is joined here by colleagues with no less expertise in the repertoire, and the album makes an ideal introduction to the art of Robert Valentine.

Track list

Disk 1

  1. Roberto Valentini (aka Robert Valentine): Concerto in D Major: I. Allegro
  2. Roberto Valentini (aka Robert Valentine): Concerto in D Major: II. Largo
  3. Roberto Valentini (aka Robert Valentine): Concerto in D Major: III. Presto
  4. Roberto Valentini (aka Robert Valentine): Concerto in D Major: IV. Affettuoso
  5. Roberto Valentini (aka Robert Valentine): Sonata No. 6 Op. 13 in D Minor: I. Adagio
  6. Roberto Valentini (aka Robert Valentine): Sonata No. 6 Op. 13 in D Minor:II. Allegro
  7. Roberto Valentini (aka Robert Valentine): Sonata No. 6 Op. 13 in D Minor:III. Adagio
  8. Roberto Valentini (aka Robert Valentine): Sonata No. 6 Op. 13 in D Minor:IV. Giga allegro
  9. Roberto Valentini (aka Robert Valentine): Sonata No. 6 Op. 13 in D Minor:V. Allegro
  10. Roberto Valentini (aka Robert Valentine): Sonata No. 6 “La Frascati” in D Major: I. Allegro
  11. Roberto Valentini (aka Robert Valentine): Sonata No. 6 “La Frascati” in D Major: II. Andante
  12. Roberto Valentini (aka Robert Valentine): Sonata No. 6 “La Frascati” in D Major: III. Allegro
  13. Roberto Valentini (aka Robert Valentine): Sonata No. 1 in E Minor, Op. 13: I. Adagio
  14. Roberto Valentini (aka Robert Valentine): Sonata No. 1 in E Minor, Op. 13: II. Allegro
  15. Roberto Valentini (aka Robert Valentine): Sonata No. 1 in E Minor, Op. 13: III. Adagio
  16. Roberto Valentini (aka Robert Valentine): Sonata No. 1 in E Minor, Op. 13: IV. Allegro
  17. Roberto Valentini (aka Robert Valentine): Sonata No. 1 in E Minor, Op. 13: V. Minuetto allegro
  18. Roberto Valentini (aka Robert Valentine): Sonata No. 6 in A Minor: I. Adagio
  19. Roberto Valentini (aka Robert Valentine): Sonata No. 6 in A Minor: II. Allegro
  20. Roberto Valentini (aka Robert Valentine): Sonata No. 6 in A Minor: III. Adagio
  21. Roberto Valentini (aka Robert Valentine): Sonata No. 6 in A Minor: IV. Giga allegro
  22. Roberto Valentini (aka Robert Valentine): Sonata No. 6 in A Minor: V. Minuetto allegro
  23. Roberto Valentini (aka Robert Valentine): Concerto No. 2 in B-Flat Major: I. Adagio
  24. Roberto Valentini (aka Robert Valentine): Concerto No. 2 in B-Flat Major: II. Allegro
  25. Roberto Valentini (aka Robert Valentine): Concerto No. 2 in B-Flat Major: III. Adagio
  26. Roberto Valentini (aka Robert Valentine): Concerto No. 2 in B-Flat Major: IV. Allegro