Ostro

This boxed set of four CDs brings together the sublime Glorias, extracts from the opera L'Olimpiade and the Vespers of the Blessed Virgin, as well as his lively concertos for cords, all recordings hailed by the international press! With the Concerto Italiano, conducted by Rinaldo Alessandrini.

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.

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.

The four works presented here were written for the Ospedale della Pietà, the female orphanage where Vivaldi taught voice and violin. Although the scores for the two choral works on this recording, the Gloria and the Magnificat, are written for the traditional four voices from soprano to bass, we must wonder who could have supplied the tenor and bass voices for concerts given by the orphans. Boys were not admitted to the orphanage, and there were very few men among its staff. In his notes for this recording, conductor Matthias Maute states that the tenor and bass parts were sung by the girls of the Ospedale. Michael Talbot, who has written extensively on Vivaldi’s life and sacred music, agrees with this assertion. According to Talbot, the tenor line would have been sung at the written pitch, while the bass line would have been sung an octave higher.