Lanzetti: Sonates a Violoncello solo e Basso continuo

Virtuoso cellist Emmanuel Balssac, together with cellist Alix Verzier and harpsichordist Bertand Cuiller, plays sonatas by 18th Century composer and cellist Salvatore Lanzetti.

Lanzetti was regarded as a brilliant cellist in his lifetime yet his virtuosity on the was eclipsed by the popularity of another great 18th century Neapolitan cellist, Franceschiello. In any case, the skills of Lanzetti as a cellist were inimitable. He was born in Naples in 1709, and studied at the Conservatorio di Santa Maria di Loreto. He later moved to Torino, where he became cellist of the Court Theatre, and a member of the Capella Reale. During his lifetime, Lanzetti toured Europe several times.

Lanzetti's compositions are exclusively for the cello. Even his early works require a surprisingly high technical ability for his time, and they become even more demanding in his later compositions. This can be seen in the use of double stops and bow strokes in Opus 1, even in the highest range of the instrument. In Opus V, Lanzetti's further investigations into the technical possibilities of the instrument are represented through the use of artificial harmonics, an extremely advance technique for his time. Opus VI is somewhat different, returning to a simpler and more constant technique. His developments in technique were probably too audacious for the cellists of the eighteenth century, and therefore not suitable for publication. While he continued with his technical investigations, particularly in the handwritten sonatas (such as "Porto Mahone"), the published Opus VI remained in "easy and elegant taste", as indicated on the title page.