Shlomo Mintz was Music Adviser of
the Israel Chamber Orchestra from 1989
to 1993, and his recordings of the Vivaldi
concertos and string symphonies originally
appeared on MusicMasters Classics on
10 discs, the first of which appeared
in 1993. Hunting the web for comments,
I only found a few mentions of this
set which were generally positive. ‘Not
stodgy at all’ in comparison to I Musici’s
1960s recordings was one remark, and
with precious few ‘complete’ recordings
as opposed to a market awash with ‘The
Four Seasons’ from Vivaldi’s Op.8 I
can only regard the wider availability
of Shlomo Mintz’s recordings as a welcome
move by Nimbus.
Nimbus’s blurb on the
website begins rather disingenuously
with, "Vivaldi’s creative genius
was not on a level with that of Bach,
Mozart or Strauss…" This point
is arguable, but the important thing
to remember is that - in these concertos
at least -Vivaldi was more often than
not writing popular music for ‘the masses’,
rather than expressing religious sentiment
or creating entertainment for the elite
classes alone. Stravinsky’s remark that
Vivaldi wrote not 100 concertos, but
100 variations on the same concerto
might have some superficial accuracy,
but in the end our present-day music
has pretty much reached the point that
every new work – popular or not – is
a variation on something in one way
or another. Vivaldi’s sheer productivity,
allied to his originality and inventiveness,
assured his music’s influence on both
his contemporaries and composers of
subesquent periods, who could look back
on his examples for both the formal
structures in concerto form, and the
freedom of expression which these structures
and forms had the potential to permit.
Volume 1 of this Nimbus
set contains none of the more famous
named Vivaldi’s concertos for violin
and orchestra: ‘Il cimento dell’armonia
e dell’inventione’ which contains the
"Four Seasons’, ‘La Stravaganza’,
‘La Cetra’or ‘L’Estro Armonico’. Of
the named concertos we do have ‘L’amoroso’
RV271, but that seems to be it. What
we do have is a fine collection of excellent
music, opening with an energetic Allegro
from the concerto in D major RV208.
I know Shlomo Mintz’s
playing from that set of J.S. Bach Sonatas
& Partitas for Solo Violin on DG
413 810-2, so the ‘rodeo’ opening solo
in this concerto, with added open strings,
is quite a surprise – albeit a highly
delightful one. With harpsichord continuo
adding colour and richness rhythmic
and harmonic to the accompanying orchestra,
these performances have quite an ‘authentic’
feel even though played on modern instruments.
The slimmer accompaniment
of the slower movements emphasises an
issue which may or may not disturb you
in Disc 1 – depending on your disposition
and equipment. Mintz’s solo violin is
set relatively close to the microphones
when compared to the rest of the instruments,
and his clear and penetrating tone can
mask some of what is going on in the
background. I found this effect to vary
somewhat depending through which equipment
I listened, so if you know you have
sharp and unyielding tweeters it might
be worth sampling a track or two from
somewhere online – not that this is
a very fair test, a most sampling tracks
are horribly compressed. The effect
is ultimately the equivalent of having
the orchestra sitting in the middle
of quite a large ballroom floor, while
Shlomo serenades the table next to yours.
I found this balance on to which I could
become accustomed, but would have preferred
a more equal relationship between violin
and orchestra. Later discs modify this
situation to a certain extent, so I
wouldn’t want to put anyone off too
much: sound quality is otherwise very
good indeed in this set.
Disc 3 presents what
the booklet notes are the first recordings
of these String Symphonies, in
which such issues of balance do not
arise. These are hardly well represented
in the catalogue, and aside from a set
on Nuovo Era with Budapest Strings I
was hard pressed to find them available
anywhere else. Without the spectacular
violin virtuosity or melodic emphasis
of a soloist these works don’t always
present the immediate impact or attraction
of some of the concertos, but take the
contrapuntal/fugal first movement of
the Symphony in E minor RV134 and
you will soon become involved in some
fascinating musical discourse. There
is some clear antiphonal writing between
1st and second violins, and
as these are clearly separated left
and right in these recordings, all of
these effects come through with crystal
clarity, and are often great fun. Embryonic
little ‘skyrockets’, the opening calls
to attention, and some searching soft
centres with the slow movements can
all be seen as precursors of the classical
style, and listening blind there are
sometimes relatively few clues to the
baroque background from which these
pieces derive – true, the harpsichord
is a bit of a giveaway, but movements
like the opening Allegro molto from
RV121 are not so very far removed from
that much later ‘sturm und drang’ feel.
These gems have been some of the finest
discoveries for me from this set, and
make a strong case in their own right.
If I have one minor
criticism it is with packaging. Double
jewel cases with those magical fold-out
disc holders are all very well, but
their fragility and lack of real grip
on the discs themselves can be something
of a liability. More than once I’ve
absent-mindedly opened this thing and
ended up with a lap or floor full of
CDs, the rest of which remain precariously
suspended in the jaws of one hinge or
other, becoming increasingly chewed
as a result. If the price is similar
for the manufacturer, I would go for
the slimline cardboard box and paper
sleeves option any day.
The market is not overly
flooded with large collections of the
less well known of Vivaldi’s concerti,
although there are excellent single
CD issues by Giuliano Carmignola and
the Venice Baroque Orchestra among others,
which plough other furrows than those
of the "Four Seasons". With
playing of great refinement and technical
brilliance throughout, these newly re-issued
MusicMasters/Nimbus recordings are as
good as self-recommending to any Vivaldi
fan. Shlomo Mintz is a soloist of proven
skill, and he shows both excellent leadership
skills and musicianship in these recordings.
None of the performances go beyond what
one might expect from ‘the middle of
the road’, but, like the guiding white
stripes we drivers all have to follow
when it gets dark – you wouldn’t want
to be without them.
Dominy Clements
CD 1
Concerto in D major RV 208
Concerto in C major RV 186
Concerto in A minor RV 356
Concerto in E major RV 271
Concerto in C major RV 171
Concerto in D major RV 230
CD 2
Concerto in G major RV 310
Concerto in E-flat major RV 254
Concerto in C minor RV 199
Concerto in D minor RV 249
Concerto in D major RV 232
Concerto in E major RV 265
CD 3
Symphony in C major, No. 44, RV 114
Symphony in E minor, No. 13, RV 134
Symphony in E minor, No. 43, RV 133
Symphony in D major, No. 30, RV 121
Symphony in F major, No. 14, RV 136
Symphony in D minor, No. 19, RV 127
Symphony in C minor, No. 20, RV 119
Symphony in B-flat major, No. 12, RV
164
Symphony in G major, No. 36, RV 150
Symphony in A major, No. 1, RV 159
Symphony in A major, No. 22, RV 160
CD 4
Concerto in F major RV 260
Concerto in D minor RV 237
Concerto in D major RV 582 (for double
orchestra)
Concerto in D major RV 213
Concerto in D major RV 228
Concerto in A major RV 340
CD 5
Concerto in G minor RV 328
Concerto in D major RV 205
Concerto in G minor RV 319
Concerto in C major RV 172
Concerto in B-flat major RV 370
Concerto in G major RV 302
