Piani 12 Sonate a Violino solo e Violoncello col Cimbalo popera prima, Parigi 1712 Pierluigi Mencattini & Labirinto Armonico

• Giovanni Antonio Piani (1678 - 1760): Sonata Prima:
• 1 Piani: Sonata Prima 11:21
• Sonata Seconda:
• 2 Piani: Sonata Seconda 12:15
• Sonata Terza:
• 3 Piani: Sonata Terza 10:35
• Sonata Quarta:
• 4 Piani: Sonata Quarta 14:18
• Sonata Quinta:
• 5 Piani: Sonata Quinta 10:35
• Sonata Sesta:
• 6 Piani: Sonata Sesta 11:46
• Sonata Settima:
• 7 Piani: Sonata Settima 09:02
• Sonata Ottava:
• 8 Piani: Sonata Ottava 12:02
• Sonata Nona:
• 9 Piani: Sonata Nona 10:03
• Sonata Decima:
• 10 Piani: Sonata Decima 10:13
• Sonata Undicesima:
• 11 Piani: Sonata Undicesima 09:16
• Sonata Dodicesima:
• 12 Piani: Sonata Dodicesima 11:24
• Total Runtime 02:12:50

Info for Piani 12 Sonate a Violino solo e Violoncello col Cimbalo popera prima, Parigi 1712

The son of the Bolognese musician Pietro Giacomo Piani, a trumpet player at the Neapolitan court, Giovanni Antonio was born in 1678 in Naples, where he studied the violin at the Conservatorio della Pietà dei Turchini with Giovan Carlo Cailò and Nicola Vinciprova. He became a skilled violinist and embarked on a brilliant career that took him first to Paris and then, from 1721 until at least 1757, to the imperial court in Vienna, where he was the highest paid player and conductor from 1741. The 19th-century musicologist Fétis writes in his 'Dictionary of Musicians' that Piani, in Venice, was allegedly sentenced to having his hand cut off for forging several signatures, but this anecdote is false.

The date of his death, which probably took place in Vienna after 1759, is unknown. Piani's only known musical work, printed in Paris in 1712, is the collection entitled in Italian 'Sonate / a Violino solo e Violoncello col Cimbalo [...] Opera Prima'. Hovering between Italian and French styles, Piani's sonatas are accompanied by various graphic signs in the score, with which the composer suggests dynamic or articulatory expressions that are explained in the 'Warnings' directed at the performer, and to which the 'Labirinto Armonico' Ensemble, led by Pierluigi Mencattini, pays due attention in order to achieve an interpretation that fully respects the author's intentions.

Labirinto Armonico:
Pierluigi Mencattini, violin
Galileo Di Ilio, violoncello
Galileo Di Ilio, violoncello
Matteo Coticoni, double bass
Sergio Basilico, archlute
Francesco Savorelli, tambourine
Walter D’Arcangelo, spinet
Stefania Di Giuseppe, organ

Pierluigi Mencattini
started to study music when he was 7. He studied in Pescara and later in Rome, under the direction of the violinist A. Redditi, and in Florence, under the violinist S. Materassi.

After his brilliant diploma, he joined the international courses in Munich, studying under the famous Argentinian violinist Ricardo Odnoposof and in Città di Castello, under the violinist R. Ricci.

Winner of national and international prizes, in 1988 he was awarded at the "Competition Internationale, Athens 1988", section "Contemporary Music". For some years he was the first violin of the "Complesso Strumentale Italiano" (C. S. I) ancient music, playing in concerts and recording in Italy and abroad (Jugoslavia, Greece, Germany, Hungary, Radio Lubiana, RaiTre). What is more, other collaborations on important lyric organizations such as "Roma Theatre", "Spoleto lyric experimental Theatre", Lyric Theatre "La Scala".

In 1990 he founded the "Ensemble '900, Contemporary Music" and a great activity started, supporting world-famous composers. In fact, he collaborated with S. Bussotti and BussottiOperaBallet and many others.

In 1998 he recorded 4 violin solo world premires, by Bussotti and Marieri's musics; in 1999 Vivaldi's "Quattro stagioni" (Four seasons); in 2000 Corelli's Sonatas Op. V by original instruments (Edizioni Novecento). Now he plays as first violin in the Chamber Orchestra "Arcangelo Corelli" and in the Ensemble "Labirinto Armonico". He has written 2 books regarding the violin Superior Technique, Paganini's chromatism and Superior Technique for left Hand, edited by Berben. He plays a French violin, J. Vuillaume and an anonymous German baroque instrument of the 18 th Century. Now he teaches at the Conservatory of Music in Pescara (Italia).

Booklet for Piani 12 Sonate a Violino solo e Violoncello col Cimbalo popera prima, Parigi 1712