Vivaldi Concerti Per Fagotto II

For fans of the classical mandolin, here is a disc of the best works for the instrument by Antonio Vivaldi, the best friend the mandolin ever had. And for the rest of the world, here is a disc of colorful Baroque concertos by Antonio Vivaldi, the best friend the Baroque concerto ever had. After all, Vivaldi may have been the mandolin's best friend, but even he could only compose so many mandolin concertos.

Fireworks, virtuosity and bravura pieces are essential ingredients of Vivaldi’s concerto oeuvre. Discover or rediscover Vivaldi’s concertos played by the most prestigious artists.

Fireworks, virtuosity and bravura pieces are essential ingredients of Vivaldi’s concerto oeuvre. Discover or rediscover Vivaldi’s concertos played by the most prestigious artists.

A couple of the concertos included here, RV 452 and RV 446, were only discovered in the 1960's, and while there is a discussion in the notes about their provenance (they "differ slightly, in terms of style, from what is generally regarded as undoubtedly authentic Vivaldi"), they have been accepted as having come from the master's pen. In any case, Heinz Holliger and I Musici perform these small masterpieces to perfection. The allegro of RV 463 exemplifies the glorious sound produced by I Musici - big, lush and swinging - and a modern musical approach that now ironically may be somewhat out of fashion.

During the summer of 1989, oboists Alfredo Bernardini and Paolo Grazzi together with bassoonist Alberto Grazzi founded Zefiro, a versatile ensemble specialized in 18th century music predominantly featuring wind instruments. Zefiro soon made a name for itself worldwide, and to celebrate its thirty years of activity Arcana is releasing an elegant 10-CD set of their complete recordings of baroque music. From the ensemble’s first disc (Sonatas by Zelenka - Grand Prix du Disque), the compilation alternates recordings of repertoire composers and pieces that have become absolute points of reference, such as the Vivaldi Bassoon Concertos, Handel’s Fireworks (Diapason d’or de l’année 2009) or the Bach Overtures (judged by Gramaphone to be one of the 50 best Bach recordings of all time).

Vivaldi’s concertos – so irresistibly inventive and colourful – have become central to the world’s appreciation of Baroque music. In the composer’s own time his brilliantly innovative works created something of an international sensation, even exciting the admiration of Johann Sebastian Bach. Doing full justice to the Venetian master’s genius, Fabio Biondi and Europa Galante give performances of captivating virtuosity and immediacy.

You say your favorite Vivaldi passage is the Four Seasons summer storm? Well, here's a disc for you. Fabio Biondi and the Europa Galante (known to many for their bestselling Seasons disc) focus on concerti con titoli, the titled concertos the Red Priest wrote that are full of inventive drama and expression. Writing for his student orchestra, the composer employed plenty of creativity in his instrumentation, and, as evidenced on a few tracks here, he wasn't beyond recycling motifs from his older works.