Christopher Hogwood The Vivaldi

Vivaldi’s last two printed collections of concertos, Opp. 11 and 12 were issued in 1729. Each set contained six works rather than the customary 12 and each, to some extent, is representative of Vivaldi’s mature concerto style. If Op. 11 contains, in the concerto Il favorito (RV277), one of the finest works of its kind that Vivaldi ever wrote, Op. 12 can boast the composer’s only published concerto for orchestral strings without solo violin; for though he wrote some 40 such pieces all but this one remained unpublished until the present century.

This marvellous set of concertos for one, two and four violins calls for a group of well-matched (not cloned) soloists who can also work together in the chamber-musical manner the music calls for—and in Monica Huggett, Catherine Mackintosh, Elizabeth Wilcock and John Holloway that is precisely what you get here. Every last detail is clearly etched in textures of wonderful clarity, intonation is as nearly perfect as humans are wont to achieve, dynamics (and contrasts thereof) are arrestingly controlled, whilst never sounding forced or unnatural.

With all the dandy digital recordings of Handel's Concerto Grossi Opus 6 available, why choose this one made in the late '80s and early '90s with Christopher Hogwood leading the Handel & Haydn Society of Boston with Daniel Stepner, Stanley Ritchie, and Linda Quan starring as the violin soloists? Choosing a recording of Handel's concertos is, of course, inevitable in the life of any listener: along with Bach's Brandenburgs and Vivaldi's Four Seasons, they form the core repertoire of high Baroque orchestral music. But why choose Hogwood? For one thing, he has a well-deserved reputation as a Handel conductor: his Messiah was lean and muscular, expressive and intense, lyrical and dramatic – characteristics of these performances as well.

Ein Rückblick auf zehn Jahre Cecilia Bartoli: Die Arie "Non piú mesto" aus der 1992 entstandenen Gesamtaufnahme von Rossinis La Cenerentola ist das älteste Tondokument dieser Anthologie, und mancher, der wie der Rezensent diese Cenerentola damals erworben hat, wird sich gut erinnern an die unbeschreiblich elektrisierende Wirkung, die die junge Italienerin mit ihrem vollblütigen Stimmmaterial, ihrem Temperament und ihrer faszinierenden Virtuosität auf ihn ausübte. Das Besondere: Die Geschwindigkeit der rasend schnellen Koloraturen geht niemals zu Lasten des Ausdrucks oder der Intensität.

Johann Pachelbel - Canon & Gigue - C. Hogwood, The Academy of Ancient Music
Baroque | Easy CD-DA, APE, Cue | No Log | 1 CD, covers, booklet | 229 MB | RS
Editions de L'OISEAU-LYRE 410 553-2 | 1983

In 1981, when LP was published, Christopher Hogwood wrote:
"The fate of almost all "pops" is to be more frequently heard in adaptations, orchestrations and arrangements than in the original style and colours intended by the composers. This disc is an attempt by The Academy of Ancient Music to redress the balance a little by presenting some of the most admired masterpieces of the 18th century in their original sonorities, performed in a style and on instruments appropriate to the period."
What was written almost thirty years ago it is still truth today…

Vivaldi wrote an astonishing 500 concertos during his lifetime, of which 27 were composed for solo cello. At the time, the instrument was in its infancy, and it was unusual for great composers to write works specifically for solo cello. Indeed, none of the concertos were published during Vivaldi’s lifetime: they had been written specially for his young female students at the Ospedale della Pietà, where the composer was employed in Venice, and were therefore not widely known. However, Vivaldi clearly saw the potential in the new instrument, otherwise he would not have gone on to write so much material for it; after the violin and bassoon, it is his third most popular solo concerto instrument.

At first glance, this looks like the concluding volume of a complete recording of Vivaldi’s Op. 1. But, as Michael Talbot points out in a characteristically interesting and informative note, the stronger works are concentrated within the second half of the set. Among them is the best known of the Trios from the collection, the 20 variations on the theme of Spanish origin, La follia. – Nicholas Anderson, Gramophone [5/1998].