Flac Vivaldi

The artistic heritage of Antonio Vivaldi, acknowledged for his talent as far as the mastery of instrumental music is concerned, has waited for years for a correct evaluation in the opera music field as well. On the other hand, a musician who in 1739, at 61 years of age, was able to boast of having composed no less than 94 operas had a legitimate right to describe himself first and foremost an opera composer. Nowadays, unfortunately, only 23 of his opera scores have been preserved and not all are complete; as the scholar Reinhard Strohm writes, "We're only able to document approximately 60 operatic performances between 1713 and 1739, in which the composer was personally involved in various ways.

Conductor Jean-Claude Malgoire must be kicking himself pretty hard right now. Several years ago, impatient that no trace of Antonio Vivaldi's only opera set in the New World, Motezuma, seemed to be turning up, Malgoire cobbled his own version of the work by pulling together a variety of music from other bits and scraps of Vivaldi and fitting it to the extant libretto. Lo and behold, with the rediscovery of the Berliner Singakademie collection in Russia early in this century, the manuscript of Motezuma is now a known quantity, and it turns out that Malgoire's concoction bears no resemblance whatsoever to it. Nonetheless, even he has to be grateful that this extraordinary score has been located, and now, recorded by Alan Curtis and Il Complesso Barocco on the Archiv Produktion release Vivaldi: Motezuma.

Teuzzone is an early opera, written in 1719, only five years after Vivaldi's first venture into the field. His developing skill as an opera composer is evident in the music's vivid delineation of the characters and their moods. There isn't much of a dramatic arc to the music of the three acts, but for the listener willing to forego that expectation, the individual moments are wonderfully effective and engaging. The libretto features the standard late Baroque operatic themes of thwarted romance and court intrigue, but it takes place in China, perhaps the first libretto to be set in the Far East. Jordi Savall had led Le Concert des Nations in one previous Vivaldi opera, Farnace, recorded live in 2001. In this 2011 studio recording, the sound quality is considerably better, and the performances are consistently superb.

Spanish countertenor Carlos Mena is not one of those who evoke the powerful castrati who might have sung these sacred arias in Vivaldi's day; his voice is smooth and precise, with a tendency toward emotional restraint. This isn't blood-and-guts Vivaldi, but it's quite lovely. Even the final Nisi dominus, RV 608, with its virtuoso arias and sharp contrasts, is kept under control at all times rather than being treated as a set of operatic numbers. Mena is technically flawless in this work (listen to the rather chilling long notes in the "Cum dederit dilectis," track 22), which stands somewhat apart from the rest of the program – the intent is to close the proceedings with a burst of energy after two sad pieces that offer refined tragedy in Mena's readings.

Thirty-seven completed and two unfinished bassoon concertos, more than for any other instrument except the violin; Vivaldi must have had one terrific fagottista in that ospedale . Well, Sergio Azzolino is pretty good, too.
Michael Talbot’s sensible notes observe that the bassoon concertos seem to come from the latter part of Vivaldi’s career, though, as with much of Vivaldi’s work, exact dating is seldom possible. He attributes this to a void in Italy between the fading of the dulcian from the standard instrumental ensemble and the slow introduction there of the Franco-German bassoon.

The program begins with the most famous Vivaldi work of all, programmatic or not, the four violin concertos known as Le Quattro Stagioni or the Four Seasons. The rest of the music is much rarer.

The "Stabat Mater" is most substantial. Alternating recitatives and arias, often framed by instrumental ritornellos, it is heartbreakingly mournful, but ends peacefully before closing with a whole aria on "Amen." The other two works are real bravura pieces for the singer. They cover an enormous range and are full of florid coloratura passages and wide leaps. "Nisi Dominus" is very dramatic, with mysterious chromatic lines and big climaxes; "Longe mala" goes from defiant vehemence through fervent entreaty to serene resignation.

These recordings illustrate the Vivaldi's genius in a way comparable to that of the Four Seasons or the Concertos of Opus 10, they are too, a fresh and delightful demonstration of the art of bel canto.

Nigel Kennedy created a sensation with his pumped-up Vivaldi on The Four Seasons, and this second volume of concertos with the strings of the Berlin Philharmonic offers more of the same: slapdash tempi, outrageously loud dynamics, over-the-top techniques, a pugnacious basso continuo, hammered exchanges between soloist and orchestra, and an aggressive pop/rock sensibility that speaks more of this star violinist than of the composer.

This recording is part of the Naïve label's Vivaldi Edition, a complete recording, scheduled to run to 100 discs, of a trove of Vivaldi manuscripts unearthed at the library of the National University of Turin. The recordings have been divided up among various mostly young Italian Baroque interpreters, with a pleasing variety of approaches. The small group Zefiro, under the direction of oboist and soloist Alfredo Bernardini, offers one-instrument-per-part readings and subtle, graceful solos on two different copies of the same 1730 oboe by the London builder Stanesby. Three of the concertos here are reissued from a 1994 recording for the Astrée label, but the approaches of the older and newer recordings are consistent, the biggest difference being the use of a double bass rather than a violin in the continuo group in the later concertos.