It is difficult to
say anything more complimentary about
this critically acclaimed and award
winning set that has not already been
said. Superlatives abound and rightly
so! Recorded in 2002 the artists here
breathe life and a sense of adventure
into this music. Incidentally the booklet
notes give no credit to a conductor
so one might assume that the ensemble
direct themselves.
Polish-based Arte Dei
Suonatori are one of several outstanding
specialist period instrument ensembles
that have come to prominence on the
early music scene in the last ten or
so years. They have successfully ratcheted-up
the level of technical proficiency and
interpretation by several notches. Undoubtedly
the earlier pioneering interpretations
of Vivaldi and Baroque music in general
using period-instruments were dictated
by the severe limitations of their instruments.
Consequently the performance style often
came across as technically mechanical,
rather lacklustre, frequently insipid
and even sterile. These days the players
explore and exploit the strength of
their period instruments rather than
being restricted by the weaknesses.
Other notable specialist period instrument
ensembles in this type of repertoire
include: Concerto Italiano under Rinaldo
Alessandrini; the Venice Baroque Orchestra
under Andrea Marcon; Europa Galante
under Fabio Biondi; The English Concert
under Andrew Manze; Ensemble Explorations
under Roel Dieltiens; and the Freiburger
Barockorchester under Gottfried von
der Goltz.
Rachel Podger uses
a baroque violin made by Pesarinius
from 1739 and her performance reaches
a supreme solidarity with Arte Dei Suonatori.
Her playing can swing effortlessly from
exciting and powerful to sensitive and
poignant, yet constantly remaining stylish
and polished. These are intensely committed,
ardently expressive and exhilarating
accounts.
The violin concertos
of La Stravaganza are remarkable
for their range of colouration as the
Vivaldi discards several vestiges of
Corellian influence and reaches out
with his own distinct style. Rachel
Podger states how impressed she is with
Vivaldi’s seemingly endless capacity
for invention and remarkable melodic
figurations. In La Stravaganza Vivaldi
has achieved a remarkably high level
of consistency and artistic quality
from a real exhilaration in the allegros
to a deep emotion in the central slow
movements. I would single out the splendid
concerto in F major, No. 9 as my favourite
work. The foot-tapping and trotting
pace of the opening movement allegro
is infectious. In the central slow movement
the somewhat mellifluous yet agitated
solo violin against a gentle rocking
rhythm is most appealing and the work
concludes with a striking and furiously
paced allegro. My favourite movement
just has to be the meltingly beautiful
largo from the concerto in D
major, No. 11 which is simply irresistible
and is a candidate for one of Vivaldi’s
greatest hits.
There have not been
too many versions of La Stravaganza
recorded over the years and consequently
the Opus 4 set has remained in the shadow
of other published collections such
as L’Estro armonico Op.3, Il
Cimento dell’armonia e dell’inventione,
Op. 8 and La Cetra, Op.9. However
the sets from Neville Marriner directing
the Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields
on Decca 444821 and Christopher Hogwood
directing the Academy of Ancient Music
on L'Oiseau Lyre 417-502 were recorded
some years ago now and have, I believe,
been in and out of the catalogues. These
new accounts make the versions from
Marriner and Hogwood seem pale, rather
lacklustre and somewhat academic and
mechanical by comparison.
The sound engineers
at Channel Classics have provided a
top-class sound quality and the annotation
is excellent too. A marvellously presented
release. No praise is high enough for
these performances!
Michael Cookson