Rachel Podger Vivaldi

A long time ago, back in the 1970s, period instrument performances mostly sounded sweet and low down. Part of the reason for this was the catgut strings and the lower tuning, and part of the reason was that players seemed to prefer a mellower and rounder tone. But time passed and period instrument performances became more and more strident until they became nearly painful to listen to by the late '80s. Violinist Rachel Podger has recaptured the mellow sounds of yesterday by producing a warm and almost human sound with her 1739 Persarinius instrument.

Antonio Vivaldi - La Cetra: 12 Violin Concertos
Rachel Podger / Holland Baroque Society
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz: 2,58 GB | Artwork | 5% Recovery Info
Label/Cat#: Channel Classics # - | Country/Year: Europe 2012
Genre: Classical | Style: Baroque, Violin | Source: Official Download

"When listening to this CD I turned the volume up just slightly past my normal listening level, and I was rewarded with a room-filling reproduction of what I’d heard in Amsterdam. "Uitstekend!" Highly recommended." ~ClassicsToday.com

In the disc's liner notes we're urged to judge Vivaldi's place "in the pantheon of great baroque composers" on the "stand-alone quality of his music" and not on errant or offhand claims of this or that musicologist. Well, owing to violinist Rachel Podger's stunning, fiercely energetic, ardently expressive, and technically assured performances and the ravishing orchestral support from the Polish period-instrument ensemble Arte Dei Suonatori, our task as listeners certainly is an easy and prodigiously enjoyable one. And that's not all the good news: this is truly one of those sonic "events" where the performers have an almost palpable presence, their sound is absolutely faithful and natural, and the balances are right on. Go ahead and turn this one up–you'll be immediately bathed in glorious, vibrant string sound, and be pleasantly surprised by the potential of Vivaldi's music to actually hold your undivided attention for an hour–maybe more.

One of the most creative talents to emerge in the field of period performance over the last decade, Rachel Podger has established herself as a leading interpreter of the music of the Baroque and Classical periods.

The dynamic ensemble Brecon Baroque was founded in 2007 by violinist and director Rachel Podger as resident ensemble at her annual Brecon Baroque Festival.The international line-up consists of some of the leading lights in the period-instrument world,such as cellist Alison McGillivray,flautist Katy Bircher,oboist Alexandra Bellamy and violist Jane Rogers,as well as some of Rachel's former students who now occupy leading positions in many of Europe's finest ensembles:violinists Bojan Cicic and Johannes Pramsohler.

This is a welcome addition to my collection. These little gems sparkle and make me want to look at other Vivaldi pieces. It's time to go beyond the Four Seasons. These pieces show compositional variety, the playing is nuanced and exciting, and the SACD recording is superb.