Album

It stands to reason that some of the women who show up as, for example, keyboard students in accounts of Haydn and Mozart would have acted on an impulse toward composition, and the late eighteenth century continues to yield interesting discoveries in women's music. What's unusual about the music of Anna Bon di Venezia, who came with her painter father Girolamo Boni to southern Germany, is how early in its composer's life it was written: born in 1740, she was schooled at the Ospedale della Pietà where Vivaldi had previously worked, and she wrote the music here in the late 1750s, between the ages of 16 and about 20. Later she married and apparently disappeared completely from history's radar screen. The duo and trio sonatas are quite competent examples of the galant style. Sample the compact and economical final Allegro movement of the Sonata No. 4 in D major from Bon's Op. 1, for flute and continuo (track 9), for a good example of her style. The two solo keyboard works bespeak a talented player; if they are not on Scarlatti's level they wouldn't have been tossed out of a program of his music, either. The sound puts the listener at unpleasantly close quarters with the music; it's for you if you want to hear the performers breathe, but the clarity of the playing would have allowed more distance. The harpsichord, an original eighteenth century instrument in the French style, is an expressive specimen with a rich voice. The music here is pleasant and sprightly throughout, suitable for the relaxing listening it originally provided to the Bavarian countess who was its patron, and definitely an important find for women's music collections. The unusually sumptuous booklet, with its gorgeous illustration of the harpsichord used, adds to the overall appeal.

© James Manheim, Rovi

CD 1
Anna Bon di Venezia Composer Trio for 2 flutes & basso continuo in D-, Op.3, No.3 Work 7:39 Umbach & Consorten Ensemble
1	1.Andantino	1:59			$0.99
2	2.Allegro	2:15			$0.99
3	3.Presto	3:25			$0.99
Anna Bon di Venezia Composer Trio for 2 flutes & basso continuo in G, Op.3, No.1 Work 7:19 Umbach & Consorten Ensemble
4	1.Adagio	2:13			$0.99
5	2.Allegro	2:17			$0.99
6	3.Allegretto	2:49			$0.99
Anna Bon di Venezia Composer Sonata for flute & keyboard No.4 in D, Op.1, No.4 Work 10:04 Umbach & Consorten Ensemble
7	1.Allegro moderato	5:04			$0.99
8	2.Andante	2:10			$0.99
9	3.Allegro assai	2:50			$0.99
Anna Bon di Venezia Composer Harpsichord Sonata in B-, Op.2, No.5 Work 9:50 Anke Dennert Harpsichord
10	1.Allegro moderato	3:46			$0.99
11	2.Adagio non molto	3:37			$0.99
12	3.Allegro	2:27			$0.99
Anna Bon di Venezia Composer Sonata for flute & keyboard No.5 in G-, Op.1, No.5 Work 6:27 Umbach & Consorten Ensemble
13	1.Allegretto	1:57			$0.99
14	2.Andante staccato	2:12			$0.99
15	3.Allegro	2:18			$0.99
Anna Bon di Venezia Composer Harpsichord Sonata in G-, Op.2, No.1 Work 14:23 Anke Dennert Harpsichord
16	1.Allegro	5:55			$0.99
17	2.Andantino	5:55			$0.99
18	3.Allegretto	2:33			$0.99
Anna Bon di Venezia Composer Trio for 2 flutes & basso continuo in D, Op.3, No.2 Work 5:39 Umbach & Consorten Ensemble
19	1.Andante	2:18			$0.99
20	2.Fuga	1:11			$0.99
21	3.Allegretto	2:10			$0.99