There is hardly any
collection of music which has had so
much influence on the history of music
as Vivaldi's Twelve Concertos, which
were published in 1711 under the title
'L'Estro Armonico'. It was the composer's
opus 3, which was preceded by two sets
of sonatas: opus 1 for two violins and
opus 2 for solo violin, both with basso
continuo. The fact that the opus 3 was
published in Amsterdam guaranteed a
wide circulation, as that city was the
centre of music publication in Europe.
It seems, though, that copies of these
concertos were circulating in manuscript
throughout Europe years before their
publication. It is difficult in fact
to say when these concertos were actually
composed.
The main reason these
concertos attracted so much attention
was that they marked the shift from
the concerto grosso principle towards
the solo concerto. The twelve concertos
are divided into four groups of three,
each consisting of one concerto for
solo violin, one for two violins and
one for four violins (sometimes with
an additional obbligato part given to
the cello). The concertos for four violins
are still rooted in the concerto grosso
practice, but the concertos for one
and two violins reflect the new concerto
style which was to be copied everywhere
in Europe, and which influenced the
likes of Johann Sebastian Bach. The
handling of the ritornello also made
a great impression, as Johann Joachim
Quantz stated: "Vivaldi's splendid ritornelli
served as good models for me in later
days".
In 1725, again in Amsterdam,
Vivaldi's opus 8 was published, under
the title 'Il Cimento dell'Armonia e
dell'Invenzione'. This collection also
consisted of twelve concertos, all written
for one solo instrument: ten for violin,
two for either violin or oboe. This
set has become Vivaldi's most famous
opus because of the first four concertos,
the 'Quattro Stagioni' ('Four Seasons').
These are specimens of the genre of
programmatic music, rather uncommon
in the baroque era. The meaning of these
concertos is explained by four sonnets,
probably written by Vivaldi himself
and describing the characteristics of
the four seasons. The set contains three
other concertos with descriptive titles:
No 5 'La Tempesta di Mare' (the storm
at sea), No 6 'Il Piacere' (the enjoyment)
and No 10 'La Caccia' (the hunt). But
these can't be considered examples of
programmatic music - instead they give
a general impression of what the subject
matter of the title.
These concertos, and
in particular the first four, belong
to the most popular works by Vivaldi,
both in our own time and also in his
lifetime. The 18th-century British historian
Sir John Hawkins wrote: "Certain it
is that the Op. 8 is the most applauded
of Vivaldi's works". But they didn't
meet with general approval. Some didn't
consider Vivaldi's compositions serious
enough, in particular in comparison
with the concertos by Corelli. Another
British historian, Charles Burney, wasn't
very complimentary, when he wrote that
the Venetians - among them Vivaldi and
Albinoni - could be classified as "the
light and irregular troops". Some of
Vivaldi's colleagues also criticised
the prevalence of extreme virtuosity
and the imitation of birds; Geminiani
wrote that "such tricks rather belong
to the professors of legerdemain and
posture-masters than to the art of music".
Although these comments were not specifically
directed at Vivaldi, it doesn't take
too much imagination to work out that
Geminiani probably had him in mind.
When Vivaldi was rediscovered
and became one of the favourite composers
of musicians and ensembles playing on
period instruments a number of recordings
were released by ensembles from north
of the Alps. Since the early 1990s ensembles
from Italy have taken up the Vivaldi
challenge. In many cases their performances
and recordings were ear-openers, providing
the music world with completely different,
generally more bold and daring interpretations.
Although I admire many of these recordings,
I can't always escape the impression
that they are so eager to do things
differently that they look for effects
which are sometimes outright ugly and
which cannot stand up to repeated listening.
This recording is different.
Yes, these are Italian interpretations,
which have a lot of warmth and passion.
And yes, there is plenty of virtuosity
here from all participants, the soloists
as well as the orchestra. But nowhere
does one hear ugly sounds, scratchy
violin playing, exaggerated effects
- these performances are just a delight
to listen to. There is a lot of lyricism
in the slow movements, for example in
the second movement of the first concerto
from Op. 3. The amount of ornamentation
is just right, and very stylish to boot.
Just listen to the larghetto from the
Concerto op. 3,2 or the largo from the
Concerto op. 8,7. The dialogue between
the solo instruments has been realised
very well (allegro from op. 3,8).
The descriptive and
programmatic concertos are performed
with great imagination. Just to give
some examples: the handling of dynamics
in the first movement of the first concerto
of the Four Seasons is excellent. The
singing of the birds as well as thunder
and lightning in 'Spring' is vividly
portrayed. In the first allegro of the
third Concerto, ‘Autumn', the singing
and dancing of the farmers is brilliantly
illustrated by the ornamentation, and
the slowing down of the tempo depicts
the slowing of the farmers' steps under
the influence of the 'liquor of Bacchus'.
There are a couple
of things I didn't like: for instance
the entrance of the orchestra at the
end of the 'larghetto e spiritoso' from
the Concerto op. 3,8, which abruptly
disrupts the ethereal atmosphere and
is in sharp contrast with the sensitive
entrance of the orchestra at the start.
The same happens in the 'largo e spiccato'
of the Concerto No. 11 of the same set,
which is a siciliano; the orchestral
interventions are too loud and abrasive.
Two other things: it
is a shame the two concertos for either
violin or oboe from Op. 8 are not recorded
here in both versions. There is plenty
of fallow space on the disc. It should
also be noted that, whereas many recordings
feature these concertos performed with
one instrument per part, the Accademia
Bizantina uses six (Op. 3) or seven
(Op. 8) violins.
All four discs contain
a booklet with programme notes giving
information about the concertos and
these draw the listener's attention
to the specific features of each concerto.
To sum up: this is
a very fine set, which I wholeheartedly
recommend to those listeners looking
for warm and passionate performances
able to stand up to repeated listening.
Johan van Veen
