After Nations

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.