Dresden Sonata No. 2

Bitti’s powerful sonata in D major — one of his most Corelli-like creations — opens with a composite movement in which slow sections alternate with cadenza-like quick ones. The second movement is a “double-stopped” fugue, where the single violin mimics the contrapuntal interplay between two violins as in a trio sonata. An almost comic movement follows: beginning as an Adagio in which a “walking bass” partners deliberately mechanical scale progressions on the violin, it suddenly transmutes into a sparkling perpetuum mobile. The final two movements, more conventional in style, consist of a stately sarabande-like Adagio and a vigorous gigue-like Allegro.