In total Vivaldi wrote
nine sonatas for cello and bass continuo.
Six of these were published in 1740;
the remainder discovered in libraries
in Italy and Germany. On this disc Anner
Bylsma plays three of the published
set and all the discoveries. The Ryom
catalogue numbers given above are not
provided on the disc and have had to
be gleaned from other sources. This
is an important omission - the key here
is insufficient to identify the work
- and it is symptomatic of the superficial
documentation.
Each sonata has four
movements (generally slow, quick, slow,
quick) and, in each case, one of the
movements is accompanied by a second
cello rather than keyboard. Generally
this is the third movement but in RV42
and RV43 it is the second movement.
I presume that these are choices made
by the performers but they seem to work
well. Bylsma’s playing is convincing
throughout. Cultured but never understated,
he tends to favour quite fast tempi
in the allegros. The accompaniments
are alive to his approach and well-integrated
in the sound picture. The cembalo (Italian
for harpsichord) is a copy of the "Celestini"
made by Klinkhamer/Amir. No information
is provided about Bylsma’s cello although
about half of it is visible on the back
cover of the booklet in a splendid picture
of the artist looking poised. A "modern"
instrument I suppose, but Bylsma’s credentials
in the baroque repertoire are well-established.
Apparently, this mid-price
reissue has quite a lot of competition,
including another disc from Bylsma on
Sony. Completists will need to fund
a two-disc set but the present DHM selection
represents a good sample. The recorded
sound is fine and the artistic merit
is unquestionable.
Patrick C Waller