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Antonio VIVALDI
(1678-1741) Concerti per violoncello, Vol. 1
Concerto for cello, in A minor, RV419 [9:25]
Concerto for cello, in F major, RV410 [12:01]
Concerto for cello and bassoon, in E minor, RV409
[7:37]
Concerto for piccolo cello, in G major, RV414 [9:52]
Concerto for cello, in D minor, RV406 [10:04]
Concerto for cello, in C major, RV398 [7:38]
Concerto for cello, in A minor, RV421 [7:58]
Christophe Coin
(cello)
Alberto Guerra (bassoon)
Il Giardino Armonico/Giovanni Antonini
rec. February and August, 2006, Centro Culturale,
Dobbiaco, Italy
NAÏVE OP 30426
[65:16]
Part of the huge,
ongoing Édition Vivaldi on the Naïve label, this welcome disc
(volume 34 in the series) is doubtless the first volume in a
complete ingathering of Vivaldi’s cello concertos. Vivaldi’s
sympathetic understanding of the cello and its possibilities
as a solo instrument is evident in almost everything he wrote
for it. This is readily apparent both in his concertos (some
twenty seven or eight in number) and also in his sonatas for
the instrument (nine of them). As that great Vivaldian Michael
Talbot puts in the booklet note to the present CD, this was
a composer for cello who “understand profoundly its ‘soul’ –
its genius for expressing songful melody (often melancholy in
mood) and its equal capacity for dazzling passage-work”.
Christophe Coin’s
reading of these concertos finds in them a particular quality
of introspection, even introversion. Though he has all the technique
necessary for the fast passage-work of which Talbot speaks,
Coin rarely takes the opportunity to “dazzle”. Even the faster
outer movements place more emphasis on grace, even a degree
of elegant deliberation, than on flamboyance or sheer punch.
As one knows from many of their other recordings Il Giardino
Armonico can ‘do’ punch and flamboyance as well as, or better
than, most; but here there is a kind of conscious restraint,
a sense of power held in reserve, which complements the innerness
of Coin’s playing with beautiful aptness. There is a striking
beauty to some of these outer movements, a refined, dancing
formality to which the continuo playing of Luca Pianta (theorbo
and baroque guitar) and Riccardo Doni (harpsichord) makes almost
as memorable a contribution as the soloist himself does. The
closing allegro of RV 419, for example, is a gem, combining
two sets of three variations with a rondo-like structure; the
interplay between soloist and ensemble has an intimacy reminiscent
of chamber music. In RV 409 Coin is joined, as fellow soloist,
by bassoonist Alberto Guerra - who might have been given slightly
more prominent billing - and the two work together very subtly
in this distinctive concerto, in which first and second movements
each alternate fast and slow sections before the work is rounded
off by a closing allegro.
Good as some of
these things are, it is perhaps in the slow movements that Coin’s
interpretation is most memorable. Several of the andantes and
largos are spun out with sustained lyricism at slower than usual
tempos and the effects are often ravishingly beautiful. In the
slow movements of some of Vivaldi’s concertos the scoring is
for cello and continuo alone, so that we are, to all intents
and purposes, in the world of the cello sonatas. The largo of
RV 410 is scored for cello and continuo only and is of the finest
of all of Vivaldi’s creations for the instrument. It has an
exquisite and pathetic melodic line, to which Coin certainly
does full justice. The largo of RV 398 is again scored purely
for cello and continuo, and again its poignancy is very moving,
the continuo work, like Coin’s own playing, of the very highest
order.
Perhaps these relatively
introspective readings of the concertos will not be to everyone’s
taste; some might even feel the recording balance gives a little
too much prominence to Coin. My own initial reservations melted
away with repeated listenings. These are subtle, intensely personal
readings of the concertos and while, perhaps, you might not want
them to be the only recording of the concertos on your shelves,
the committed lover of Vivaldi will certainly want them on his
or her shelves.
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