This is the third review
which has been inspired by looking for bargains in the
Harmonia Mundi catalogue which represent even better value
than the first and second batches of the very fine new
HM Gold series (see
review). So
far I’ve looked at an excellent recording of William Byrd’s
Music
for a Hidden Chapel and two equally fine CDs containing
the twelve Op. 6
Concerti Grossi of Arcangelo Corelli. If
anything, this Vivaldi recording is even more recommendable. I
could make this a very short review and simply urge you
to purchase it.
Some of Vivaldi’s most
inventive music is to be found in his chamber concertos,
a representative selection of which is included on the
present recording. They could well be the next port of
call for someone who had got to know the
Four Seasons. A
very few of these concertos have been much recorded, but
enough of them are rarities to make this inexpensive recording
very worthwhile indeed. Add the excellence of the performances
and the quality of the recording and this CD should be
selling like the proverbial hot cakes.
The first movement of
La
Pastorella, RV95, makes for a sprightly and attractive
opening to the programme, with flute and bassoon at opposite
ends of the spectrum, as it were, and the other instruments
filling in between. The lively performances by all concerned
augur well for the programme – a promise which is fully
kept throughout. The slow movement is as charming as
the opening is lively and, once again, the performance
is ideal. Because of the chamber proportions of the
music and playing and the excellent balance of the recording,
the harpsichord can be clearly heard without dominating
the proceedings. The finale adds to the attractions
of a work which deserves to be much better known.
Don’t be fooled by the
title into thinking the music describes some pastoral landscape
filled with lifeless Meissen figurines – the music is charming
in the same way that a Venetian carnival mask is charming.
RV99 is equally attractive;
I almost wrote that it was slightly more conventional than
RV95, but nothing in Vivaldi is conventional – the old
chestnut about writing the same concerto hundreds of times
must have begun with someone with cloth ears. You certainly
couldn’t confuse these two concertos, except in that both
are delightful.
RV94 has been recorded
several times, notably on an excellent recording by Il
Giardino Armonico entitled
Famous Chamber Concertos,
coupled with RV98, 104, 93, 63, 442, 108 and 107. The
tempi adopted here are just a fraction slower than on that
Teldec/Warner recording but there is very little to choose
between the two interpretations – both are excellent. The
other concertos on Teldec have titles, but that doesn’t
make them in any way preferable to those recorded here. This
recording is currently available only in a bargain-price
11-CD box set with Bach, Biber and more Vivaldi (2564 63264
2), but ought to reappear soon among the mid-price reissues
marking Teldec’s 50
th anniversary. Meanwhile
it’s available, along with several other excellent recordings
by this group, for a mere £3 as a download from the warner.freshdigital.co.uk
website. Be warned, however, that Warner’s downloads are
still ‘locked’ files and can be synced to an mp3 player
or burned to CDR only via Windows Media Player, with its
unfortunate and unavoidable habit of inserting 2-second
gaps between tracks. Fortunately this is not a problem
with Vivaldi, but very annoying when the music is continuous
between movements.
Il Giardino Armonico have
also recorded RV95 on a recent mid-price Teldec/Warner
reissue (2564 697661
Concerti da
Camera II,
with RV100, 87, 88 and 103). As with RV99, it’s very difficult
to choose between two such fine performances.
If I try to describe the
rest of the music on the Harmonia Mundi recording, I shall
find myself repeating the same words of approval – which
is not to say that the music is at all unvaried; the finale
of RV84 might just remind you of one of the Op.10 flute
concertos. With excellent performances throughout, as
sensitive to the music as those Teldec recordings by Il
Giardino, which they now join as my benchmarks for this
music, and with excellent recording and balance, I strongly
recommend purchase. There isn’t one dud movement on this
recording.
Like the other Classical
Express recordings, this is available from iTunes and eMusic. The
iTunes version is in the superior ‘plus’ format, at a very
adequate 256kbps and, at £4.74 it’s better value than the
eMusic version – 22 tracks would take up almost half of
a monthly allocation on the 50 tracks for £11.99 contract. Alternatively,
the CD costs around £6 in the UK, so neither way of obtaining
this excellent recording is going to break the bank.
Any grouses? Well, Harmonia
Mundi could have fitted another concerto on this recording,
though, at 64:11, it’s not exactly mean. Buy the CD or
download and you end up with an unimaginative cover, available
as a high-resolution image from eMusic. Neither iTunes
nor eMusic consider it important enough to inform us what
instrument each performer plays, but that is stated on
the cover and full details are available from the Harmonia
Mundi website.
These minor grumbles apart,
I recommend that you obtain this recording in one form
or another, even if you’ve only encountered the
Four
Seasons until now. One of these bargain-price Classical
Express recordings has already been made upwardly mobile
to medium price, though you can probably still find it
at the lower price if you hurry, (HMX395 7010, Handel’s
Water
Music, Philharmonia Baroque/Nicholas McGegan). You
can still get it for £4.74 from iTunes in ‘plus’ format. You
might want to snap up the Vivaldi now in case it’s also
transferred to the new mid-price HM Gold series. Of course,
you get a more attractive cover for the higher price but,
despite my grumbles about these Classical Express covers,
I wonder if it’s worth paying the difference.
Brian Wilson