Leila Schayegh, La Cetra Barockorchester Basel - Leclair: Concerti per violino (2022) Hi-Res

It’s almost impossible not to be fascinated by the life and music of Jean-Marie Leclair (1697-1764), such are its colourful contradictions. A career that began as a dancer but which ultimately saw him become one of France’s greatest violinist-composers, famed for not only for his breathtakingly virtuosic technique but also for the exquisite sweetness and good taste of his playing – hence the much-documented 1739 concert showdown in Amsterdam between him and the Italian virtuoso Locatelli, declared a draw after Locatelli played like the devil and Leclair like an angel. Then in the 1740s his abandonment of the violin for an unsuccessful career as an opera composer, followed in time by a move to lodgings in one of Paris’s dodgier areas, and finally being stabbed to death outside his own front door in a murder case that has never been solved.
Tracklist
1. Violin Concerto in E Minor, Op. 10 No. 5: I. Allegro ma poco (6:21)
2. Violin Concerto in E Minor, Op. 10 No. 5: II. Largo (5:08)
3. Violin Concerto in E Minor, Op. 10 No. 5: III. Allegro (5:26)
4. Violin Concerto in F Major, Op. 10 No. 4: I. Allegro ma poco (7:05)
5. Violin Concerto in F Major, Op. 10 No. 4: II. Andante gratioso (4:27)
6. Violin Concerto in F Major, Op. 10 No. 4: III. Allegro (5:13)
7. Violin Concerto in A Minor, Op. 7 No. 5: I. Vivace (5:46)
8. Violin Concerto in A Minor, Op. 7 No. 5: II. Largo (3:48)
9. Violin Concerto in A Minor, Op. 7 No. 5: III. Allegro assai (4:56)
10. Violin Concerto in F Major, Op. 7 No. 4: I. Allegro (4:52)
11. Violin Concerto in F Major, Op. 7 No. 4: II. Adagio (5:37)
12. Violin Concerto in F Major, Op. 7 No. 4: III. Allegro (3:33)