Each Friday we select a track from a Naxos Music Group album released twenty years ago to provide the accompaniment for five minutes of your downtime.
This week’s pick from the Dynamic label (CDS479) is of music by Italian composer Giovanni Battista Viotti, who was born in 1755. In 1782 he performed at the Concert Spirituel in Paris and received such a positive response that he decided to settle in the French capital. He soon became a favourite among aristocratic circles, even entering the service of Queen Marie Antoinette in 1784. His reputation grew along with the publication of many of his works, including his violin concertos. Here’s the slow movement from his Violin Concerto No. 29.