King's Consort Vivaldi

Works by Antonio Vivaldi by definition fall within the repertoire of an Ancient music ensemble such as Pandolfis Consort, which specializes in Renaissance and Baroque music. The fact that the orchestra, founded in 2004 by violist Elzbieta Sajka-Bachler, is now releasing a second album of motets and instrumental concertos by the Grand Master from Venice within just two years testifies on one hand to Vivaldi's rich oeuvre, but on the other hand to how much Vivaldi's compositional art is close to the hearts of the musicians.

The Tulipa Consort, making its CD début here, is unusual in that it is an instrumental ensemble formed by a singer. Johanette Zomer tells us that, tired of having to make difficult artistic compromises with conductors, she decided to create her own hand-picked body of players to allow her “artistic freedom from the very beginning”. If that sounds like the utterances of a true diva, determined to guarantee herself top-billing and to be sure of showing her voice off to its fullest unimpeded by the artistic sensibilities of others, the evidence of this CD could not be more contrary.

What can anyone add to the praise that has deservedly been heaped on Robert King and the King's Consort's 11 discs of the complete sacred music of Vivaldi? Can one add that every single performance is first class – wonderfully musical, deeply dedicated, and profoundly spiritual? Can one add that every single performer is first class – absolutely in-tune, entirely in-sync, and totally committed? Can one add that every single recording is first class – amazingly clean, astoundingly clear, and astonishingly warm? One can because it's all true and it's all been said before by critics and listeners across the globe.

A lively re-telling of Vivaldi's life through a selection of his violin concertos, from perhaps the most exciting young Baroque violinist around - including a number of world premiere recordings, and a gorgeous recent rediscovery.

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.

Specchio veneziano or the Venetian mirror – this programme compares and contrasts two composers from the city of the Doges: on the one hand the celebrated Vivaldi, on the other a virtual unknown, Giovanni Battista Reali, who was born there in 1681, three years after Vivaldi, and died in 1751, ten years after his illustrious colleague. A violinist himself, he composed trio sonatas, including a very spectacular Folia, which Théotime Langlois de Swarte, Sophie de Bardonnèche, Hanna Salzenstein and Justin Taylor juxtapose with Vivaldi’s Folia, alongside other highly virtuosic pieces, many of them complete rediscoveries, since half of this program has never been recorded before.

Of the program’s seven concertos, only two—one by each composer—are conventional solo concertos. Albinoni, who is credited with inventing the genre, actually wrote as many double concertos as solo concertos; two of them are included on the disc, along with a concerto grosso scored for an unlikely combination of five winds and continuo. Vivaldi, who refined Albinoni’s concept, is represented by a brace of concertos for pairs of oboes and clarinets. Therein lies the fun of this marvelous and unexpected release.

It would be hard to find a more pleasing version of The Four Seasons than this one, done in period style with a superb blend of the instruments, making the music spring to life without any striving after effects. Any number of passages illustrate this, but the first movement of Summer with its repeated notes on the solo violin rising through different chords shows the beauty of this unvarnished approach. At a steady tempo, the sheer beauty of the writing emerges, utterly suited to the violin, whose sounds are a source of endless fascination.

Genaux brings a fascinating swagger to the solo motets. Her chest voice has a baritone richness; in higher registers, she can sound virginal or diva-ish. Zooming through scalar passages and leaping around registers, she turns doggerel Latin into moving statements…Urged on by Dubrovsky, the Bach Consort Wien bustles through [the Kyrie and Credo]…this performance would make Vivaldi proud.