Christopher Hogwood Vivaldi

Here we have a disc recorded in July of 1996 but not released until September of 2000. Additionally, we have Christopher Hogwood, a conductor who led the Academy of Ancient Music in some of their most successful recordings but who now does not have a steady contract. And we have Andrew Manze, a violinist who was a hired soloist with the Academy at the time of the recording but is now its music director. What does this suggest? It suggests a disc that languished in the record company's vaults until Manze's name and fame got it released.

Nine cello sonatas by Vivaldi have survived. Six of them were published as a set in Paris in about 1740; that set, mistakenly known as the composer's Op. 14, contains the sonatas recorded in this release. The three remaining sonatas come from manuscript collections. All but one of the six works are cast in the slow-fast-slow-fast pattern of movements of the sonata da chiesa. The odd one out, RV46, in fact, retains the four movement sequence but inclines towards the sonata da camera in the use of dance titles. The music of these sonatas is almost consistently interesting, often reaching high points of expressive eloquence, as we find, for example, in the justifiably popular Sonata in E minor, RV40. Christophe Coin brings to life these details in the music with technical assurance and a spirit evidently responsive to its poetic content. Particularly affecting instances of this occur in the third movements of the A minor and the E minor Sonatas where Coin shapes each phrase, lovingly achieving at the same time a beautifully sustained cantabile.

Following his attractive performance of six of Vivaldi's cello sonatas, Christophe Coin has recorded six of the composer's 24 or so concertos for the instrument. Five of these, Michael Talbot tells us in an interesting accompanying note, probably belong to the 1720s while the sixth, the Concerto in G minor (RV416), is evidently a much earlier work. Coin has chosen, if I may use the expression somewhat out of its usual context, six of the best and plays them with virtuosity and an affecting awareness of their lyrical content. That quality, furthermore, is not confined to slow movements but occurs frequently in solo passages of faster ones, too. It would be difficult to single out any one work among the six for particular praise. My own favourite has long been the happily spirited Concerto in G major (RV413) with which Coin ends his programme. Strongly recommended. (Gramophone Magazine)

This collection represents the full range of Vivaldi recordings Christopher made with the AAM, and includes L'Estro Armonico Op.3, La Stravaganza Op.4, and the violin concertos Opp. 6, 8, 9, 11, and 12; solo concertos for flute (op. 10), oboe, bassoon, and cello; and various concerti grossi. Also featured are the complete cello sonatas, along with the cantatas "Amor, hai vinto" and "Nulla in mundo pax sincera", and sacred vocal works Stabat Mater, Nisi Dominus and the enduringly popular Gloria.

This marvellous set of concertos for one, two and four violins calls for a group of well-matched (not cloned) soloists who can also work together in the chamber-musical manner the music calls for—and in Monica Huggett, Catherine Mackintosh, Elizabeth Wilcock and John Holloway that is precisely what you get here. Every last detail is clearly etched in textures of wonderful clarity, intonation is as nearly perfect as humans are wont to achieve, dynamics (and contrasts thereof) are arrestingly controlled, whilst never sounding forced or unnatural.

Christopher Hogwood was one of the first pioneers to introduce historically informed performances in England in the 70', following Nikolaus Harnoncourt's revolution that took place in the late 50'. With the Academy of Ancient Music, he published hundreds of fine recordings from different composers, with a special focus on Vivaldi. Here he presents the famous Four Seasons. I find Hogwood's lecture of the 4 Seasons perfect.

This is a beautiful CD. On it is a collection of some of Vivaldi' best concertos played on authentic instruments with light, transparent textures, brisk tempi and real excitement. An absolute delight!

Vivaldi’s last two printed collections of concertos, Opp. 11 and 12 were issued in 1729. Each set contained six works rather than the customary 12 and each, to some extent, is representative of Vivaldi’s mature concerto style. If Op. 11 contains, in the concerto Il favorito (RV277), one of the finest works of its kind that Vivaldi ever wrote, Op. 12 can boast the composer’s only published concerto for orchestral strings without solo violin; for though he wrote some 40 such pieces all but this one remained unpublished until the present century.

With all the dandy digital recordings of Handel's Concerto Grossi Opus 6 available, why choose this one made in the late '80s and early '90s with Christopher Hogwood leading the Handel & Haydn Society of Boston with Daniel Stepner, Stanley Ritchie, and Linda Quan starring as the violin soloists? Choosing a recording of Handel's concertos is, of course, inevitable in the life of any listener: along with Bach's Brandenburgs and Vivaldi's Four Seasons, they form the core repertoire of high Baroque orchestral music. But why choose Hogwood? For one thing, he has a well-deserved reputation as a Handel conductor: his Messiah was lean and muscular, expressive and intense, lyrical and dramatic – characteristics of these performances as well.

Vivaldi wrote an astonishing 500 concertos during his lifetime, of which 27 were composed for solo cello. At the time, the instrument was in its infancy, and it was unusual for great composers to write works specifically for solo cello. Indeed, none of the concertos were published during Vivaldi’s lifetime: they had been written specially for his young female students at the Ospedale della Pietà, where the composer was employed in Venice, and were therefore not widely known. However, Vivaldi clearly saw the potential in the new instrument, otherwise he would not have gone on to write so much material for it; after the violin and bassoon, it is his third most popular solo concerto instrument.