Whether by chance or by design, the timing of these reissues
proves fortuitous. Had these performances appeared during the
CD boom of the 1980s - when the period-practice fraternity was
well on its way to co-opting this repertoire - they'd probably
have been dismissed as old-fashioned, if not actually unstylish.
Now, with the historical movement sufficiently established not
to have to fight for its place at the table, we've achieved a
modicum of toleration for stylistic diversity - at least, outside
of academia - and these readings sound charmingly "retro."
Don't dismiss them as curiosities, though - they're fine performances,
of the kind common through the 1960s, when Vivaldi players could
rely on their musicality without having to consider a raft of
historical research along the way. The Virtuosi di Roma play
on modern instruments in a modern way: bowing firmly, letting
the bows sit briefly on the strings, allowing vibrato to enrich
the tone. The result is a full-bodied sonority with a distinctly "Mediterranean" warmth,
but one with enough rhythmic buoyancy, and enough air around
the notes, to avoid the heavy-syrup sound and manner of, say,
Stokowski's
Four Seasons (Decca Phase Four, for those
with long memories). The melodies breathe and sing easily, shaded
and tapered with the coloristic and dynamic resources available
on modern strings. The overall effect is of "symphonic" weight,
if you will, but without losing the chamber-music interplay among
the parts.
While the
Seasons is clearly meant as the "draw" here,
L'Estro
Armonico is the real prize. Those who only know the Vivaldi
of the
Seasons will find the composer exploring a rather
wide range of styles for instrumental concertos, including a
feint towards a grand French overture in the B minor, a
Largo of
rapt, bleak stillness in the sixth concerto, and a haunting slow
movement woven from solos and fragments in the F major. The Virtuosi
have the measure of these pieces in all their diversity, outclassing
even such estimable modern-instrument ensembles as the Academy
of Saint-Martin-in-the-Fields, whose adept, stylish performances
(originally Argo, eventually Decca) sound comparatively generalized.
The only demerit is earned by cellist Benedetto Mazzacurati,
whose slow, pulsing tone can turn unattractive. Still, the Virtuosi's
readings should once and for all rebut the glib truism that Vivaldi
merely wrote the same concerto 500 times over.
This version of
The Four Seasons was one of my favorites
on LP, and it remains attractive. As in Opus 3, the color, singing
quality, and sheer verve of the performances are hard to resist;
the violins' full-throated attack on their running figures generates
a
frisson that period ensembles, with their paltry numbers
of gut strings, can't emulate. Digital processing, however, reveals
small flaws that the vinyl discreetly obscured. The violins can
sound scrappy, or hard pressed, at the top; the unidentified
solo cello is sour in its one exposed movement, again afflicted
with a pulsing vibrato - so presumably it's Mazzacurati again.
For this kind of performance, it's your choice between the alluring,
polished veneer of I Musici (Philips) and the vitality and mildly
frayed edges of this one.
The "filler" concertos on the
Seasons disc share
the merits of the rest of the set. In the flute concerto, I liked
Pasquale Rispoli's pert, chiffy timbre - which stands out in
clear relief against the string ensemble - and he spins out the
tone spaciously, if not quite eloquently, in the central
Largo.
La
tempesta di mare gets one of the spiffiest performances in
the entire set, with the first movement's vigor brought up short
by the searching ambivalence of the
Largo.
As far as the engineering goes, the most finicky, digitally-weaned
ear may hear an occasional bit of discoloration, but the fifty-plus-year-old
stereo sound comes up with gratifying clarity and presence overall.
I'm glad I got to know these performances, and you should do
so, too.
Stephen Francis Vasta
see also review by Jonathan
Woolf
Track and soloist details
CD 1
Il cimento dell'armonia e dell'inventione, Op. 8/1-4 (The
Four Seasons) (1725)
Concerto No. 1 in E, RV 269 (Spring) [10:14]*
Concerto No. 2 in G minor, RV 315 (Summer) [11:06]+
Concerto No. 3 in F, RV 293 (Autumn) [10:41]*
Concerto No. 4 in F, RV 297 (Winter) [9:13]+
rec. March 1959, No. 1 Studio, Abbey Road
Concerto in A [7:50]
Flute Concerto in D, Op. 10/3, RV 428 (
Il gardellino) (1729) [10:50]^
rec. June 1962, Rome Opera House
Concerto in E flat, Op. 8/5, RV 252 (
La tempesta del mare) (1725) [9:55]#
rec. October 1959, Rome Opera House
L'estro armonico, Op. 3 (1711)
rec. October 1958 (Concertos 2, 3, 5, 8, 9, 12) and October 1959, Rome Opera
House
CD 2
Concerto No. 1 in D, RV 549 [9:28]#§¶º
Concerto No. 2 in G minor, RV 578 [9:48]*+¹
Concerto No. 3 in G, RV 310 [7:34]§
Concerto No. 4 in E minor, RV 550 [8:32]§¶²³
Concerto No. 5 in A, RV 519 [8:13]²³
Concerto No. 6 in A minor, RV 356 [9:27]
CD 3
Concerto No. 7 in F, RV 567 [10:13]§#¶*¹
Concerto No. 8 in A minor, RV 522 [11:59]§#
Concerto No. 9 in D, RV 230 [8:58]*
Concerto No. 10 in B minor, RV 580 [10:30]*#¹
Concerto No. 11 in D minor, RV 565 [11:59]*#¹
Concerto No. 12 in E, RV 265 [11:08]*
*Luigi Ferro (violin); +Guido Mozzato (violin); ^Pasquale Rispoli (flute); #Edmondo
Malanotte (violin); §Franco Gulli (violin); ¶Mario Benvenuti (violin); ºAlberto
Poltronieri (violin); ¹Benedetto Mazzacurati (cello); ²Angelo Stefanato
(violin); ³Renato Ruotolo (violin)
Virtuosi di Roma/Renato
Fasano 
