Vivaldi Violin Concertos

Vivaldi’s op.6 concertos first appeared in print in Amsterdam in 1719. However, this edition was unreliable in the extreme. Scoring was incorrect, the number of works indistinct, random movements separated from their correct work, and a host of other errors. What is clear though is that these concertos are a decisive step forward from the works found in opp. 3 and 4. For example, all follow the fast-slow-fast pattern of the three movement concerto. The solo violin has prominence, so we are moving away from the concerto-grosso style. These recordings are the world premiere of the new critical edition by Alessandro Borin, Istituto Italiano Antonio Vivaldi, Fondazione Giorgio Cini, Venice.

With the number of Vivaldi concerto recordings flooding the market, what is a starter CD-buyer to do? How can he or she make a choice? Perhaps if a reviewer has any function at all, it is to steer the prospective purchaser in the right direction. If you like period instruments, the new disc with Giorgio Sasso might be a candidate for an ideal one-CD Vivaldi choice.

This box set gathers all the violin concertos availa-ble in the Vivaldi Edition, plus Concerto Italianos benchmark recording of the red priest's most emblematic work: The Fours Seasons. A real 6-hour baroque violin feast!

Renowned, American born violinist & conductor, Yehudi Menuhin was a vegetarian and committed supporter of many social and environmental causes, with a great interest in Yoga and eastern religion. He was considered one of the greatest violinist of all time and this EMI recording of "Violin Voncertos by Vivaldi" is an excellent introduction to his work Performed by the Polish Chamber Orchestra.

The title and theme of this set of concertos is 'Human Passions.' The detailed booklet argues that Vivaldi was unique in attempting to portray human emotions in the instrumental concertos. As examples of this, the first disc consists of six violin concertos written around about the time of the opus 8 set which includes the Four Seasons. These extra concertos may have been intended to form a new set of six related concertos all linked by Human Passions. The concertos are are titled and five are as follows: Il Sospetto (Suspicion); L'Inquietudine (Anxiety); Il Riposo (Repose); Il Piacere (Pleasure) and L'Amoroso (The Lover). The missing sixth title could have been one of many options and on this disc the extra concerto played is Amato Bene (Beloved Creature).

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.

The four concerti in The Four Seasons of Antonio Vivaldi have probably earned the distinction of being the most frequently recorded classical works in the digital era. Originally published as part of a set of 12 concerti as Vivaldi's Opus 8, the other eight concerti also get some attention, particularly La tempesta di mare, but the set as a whole is comparatively seldom recorded. In Europa Galante's Virgin Classics release, Vivaldi: Il cimento dell'armonia e dell'inventione, violinist Fabio Biondi, who has recorded The Four Seasons at least once before for Opus 111, leads his expert ensemble in the whole of the Opus 8 set.

Dutch label Brilliant tends to issue giant budget box sets, with mixed results. This one, collecting a group of 1990s recordings originally appearing on the small Divox label from Switzerland, has some of the characteristic flaws, but it actually assembles three discs' worth of music that belongs together in a single program. What you get here is an unusually broad range of insight into Vivaldi as a programmatic or representational composer. 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 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.

Vivaldi's violin concertos, of which some 500 appear to be extant, were first written to showcase the composer's virtuosity on the violin, and so it is no wonder that this small selection of four concertos puts Monica Huggett in the limelight, her sweet violin tone generally dominating proceedings, although not altogether to the exclusion of the London Vivaldi Orchestra and its leader Roy Goodman.