Vivaldi Naive Violin

The refined period performances of Vivaldi's chamber concertos by the fabulous L'Astrée ensemble make this album a delightful experience, and despite Opus 111's questionable packaging, the label deserves high marks for providing exquisite sound quality and for devoting serious attention to a worthy project. Part of a series surveying all the manuscripts in the Vivaldi collection of the National University Library in Turin, this volume presents nine works in various combinations for flute, recorder, oboe, bassoon, violin, cello, theorbo, guitar, and harpsichord. Best-known of the selections is the Concerto in D major, RV 90, "Il gardellino," celebrated for its gentle lyricism and clever mimicry a goldfinch. Also familiar is the Concerto in D major, RV 95, "La pastorella," which features a vivid depiction of a rustic dance in the third movement. The remaining concertos are equally enjoyable, for L'Astrée's vibrant playing and the transparent timbres of its original instruments bring crispness, spontaneity, and even a feeling of novelty to Vivaldi's music.

- -Blair Sanderson

Antonio Vivaldi ‎– Concerti E Cantate Da Camera III
Laura Polverelli / L'Astrée / Giorgio Tabacco
EAC+LOG+CUE | FLAC: 320 MB | Full Artwork: 115 MB | 5% Recovery Info
Label/Cat#: Naive # OP 30381 | Country/Year: France 2005
Genre: Classical | Style: Baroque

In 1991, under the auspices of the Institute for the Musical Heritage in Piedmont and the Piedmont Region was founded in Turin the ensemble Astrée, specializing in training instrumental repertoire six eighteenth-century historians and criteria with the use of original instruments.

Vivaldi wrote hundreds of violin concertos, yet even this tiny sample of six, written during the composer’s visit to Prague between 1730 and 1731, demonstrates in every movement his genius of harmonic and dramatic surprise. Each concerto is startlingly original, from the opening movement of the E Minor RV 278 that pits daring solo passages against a hypnotic, pulsing orchestra, while the same concerto’s Largo even feels modern in its angularity. A more familiar Vivaldi can be heard in the C Major RV 186, with its Italianate innocence and winsome middle Largo. But whatever the composer’s mood, Fabio Biondi and Europa Galante thrill to his ingenuity at every step.

This sixty-second volume of the epic Vivaldi Edition is also the seventh volume of the flamboyant Red Priests violin concertos. Here we see the ageing composer more full of life than ever, adapting to the demands of the galant style in vogue since 1725, while losing nothing of his verve and imagination. These are the sole surviving concertos of the fifteen that, during his fateful last year in Viennese exile, Vivaldi sold for a pitifully small sum to Count Vinciguerra Tommaso Collalto, a Venetian nobleman then residing in his castle at Brtnice, Moravia (the castello of this volumes title). With solo writing of extreme refinement, these works fully exploit the whole range of violinistic expression and phrasing, displaying a wealth of ornamentation and a lavishly inventive sense of lyrical cantabile virtuosity.

This is the 45th title in the Vivaldi Edition, 3 years after the first recording dedicated to Vivaldi scores discovered in Europe between 2000 and 2007, now in its 12th year. This second volume features the most recent discoveries in world premiere recordings and will further contribute to complete one of the most fascinating jigsaw puzzles in musical history Federico Maria Sardelli is a member of the musicological committee of the Istituto Italiano Antonio Vivaldi at the Fondazione Cini in Venice, for which he has published numerous scholarly essays. In July 2007 Peter Ryom chose him to continue his monumental work of cataloguing the music of Antonio Vivaldi; since then, Sardelli has been the editor of the Vivaldi Werkverzeichnis (RV).

Vivaldi - Concerti per archi III & Concerti per viola d’amore - Accademia Byzantina (2018) {2CD Set Naïve OP30570}
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© 2018 Naïve Classique | OP 30570
Classical / Baroque / Viola / Strings

Certainly, there are the Four Seasons and all the violin concertos which are more famous and virtuosic than other works. But it is here, in his concertos for solo strings, that Antonio Vivaldi showcases his writing talent at its highest and purest level: concise, vivacious, deep and immediately emotional. A Vivaldi in the firmament, served here with passion and excellence by Accademia Bizantina.

Vivaldi wrote hundreds of violin concertos, yet even this tiny sample of six, written during the composer’s visit to Prague between 1730 and 1731, demonstrates in every movement his genius of harmonic and dramatic surprise. Each concerto is startlingly original, from the opening movement of the E Minor RV 278 that pits daring solo passages against a hypnotic, pulsing orchestra, while the same concerto’s Largo even feels modern in its angularity. A more familiar Vivaldi can be heard in the C Major RV 186, with its Italianate innocence and winsome middle Largo. But whatever the composer’s mood, Fabio Biondi and Europa Galante thrill to his ingenuity at every step.

This is the first time a French violinist has joined the line of prestigious solo virtuosi recording for the Vivaldi Edition. Violinist Julien Chauvin and his Concert de la Loge founded in 2015, and modeled on one of the most celebrated orchestras of the late 18th century here reveal all the discreet charms of an inventive concertante style rich in detail, featuring Vivaldis favored instrument. This particular set of concerti highlight the consistently close links between Vivaldis instrumental and operatic works. Transcending the difference of genre, the Venetian composers unitary conception of language and style allowed him to pass with the deft skill of a juggler from one domain to the other, making them happily converge on common ground, writes Cesare Fertonani.