Vivaldi - Concerti per viola d\\\'amore |
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Average Customer Rating: 
List Price: £15.99
Our Price: £7.56
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Binding: Audio CD
EAN: 0094639514625
Label: Virgin Classics
Manufacturer: Virgin Classics
Number Of Discs: 1
Publisher: Virgin Classics
Release Date: 2007-10-15
Running Time: 77
Studio: Virgin Classics |
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Disc 1:
| 1. Allegro | | 2. Largo | | 3. Allegro | | 4. Allegro | | 5. Andante | | 6. Allegro | | 7. (Allegro) | | 8. Largo | | 9. Allegro | | 10. (Allegro) | | 11. (Adagio) | | 12. (Presto) | | 13. Allegro | | 14. Largo | | 15. Allegro | | 16. Allegro | | 17. Largo | | 18. Allegro | | 19. Medley: Largo/Allegro | | 20. (Adagio) | | 21. Allegro | | 22. Allegro | | 23. Largo | | 24. Allegro |
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Enigma variations, 2007-12-12
There isn't a huge repertoire for the enigmatic viola d'amore and, when you consider the instrument's eccentricities, it is hardly surprising. By the late seventeenth century (ie by Vivaldi's time) it had six sympathetic strings, mounted under the fingerboard, responding to another set of six principal strings above the fingerboard. But Vivaldi, for one, was sufficiently intrigued by its possibilities to write six concerti exclusively for the viola d'amore - whose name alludes to its association with the mysterious, nocturnal and sensual.
In Fabio Biondi's new recording, the concerti come to life. His playing is energetic and engaging and, whilst Vivaldi's writing isn't uniformly inspired across the set of six, Biondi's enthusiasm and technical skill provide enough interest to reward the listener.
One of the problems faced by a collection like this is the inherent lack of variety in a series of concerti all six of which share the same fast-slow-fast structure and three of which are in the same key of D minor. All six are written in either D or A, and one of the two 'bonus' pieces, the marvellous Concerto for viola d'amore and lute (RV540) is again in D minor. Biondi manages to pull it off, and not just because of his own manner of playing - he varies pace in a thoughtful, occasionally provocative way. The disc also includes a particularly rustic-sounding chamber concerto (RV97) in which the mood is more bucolic than sensual. Pairs of horns and oboes, a bassoon and a lute introduce novel colours while the fast-slow-fast structure is discarded in favour of a slow introduction. It is a superb chamber concerto that is entirely new to me, and provides one of the real high points of the CD.
This is the third recording I've heard of these pieces - the others are by Calabrese (1993, Erato) and Lazsio Barsony (1980, Brilliant). Biondi's is by far the best, thanks mainly to the infusion of variety in the mix. The informative booklet, meanwhile, adds further to the mystique of the instrument with illustrations of Biondi's viola d'amore (attributed to the Milanese maker Giovanni Grancino, c1700). The photographs show an instrument with distinctly odd-looking sound holes and a blindfolded head substituting for the usual scroll. Like the sounds it makes on the CD, therefore, it looks simultaneously exotic, beautiful and weird.
Glorious Vivaldi, 2007-12-12
I read about this CD in the Daily Mail and decided to buy it and the review in the newspaper didn't do it justice. It is a magnificent recording that, on a cold, foggy December morning leaves you feeling joyous. I am not, sadly, a musical expert but I know what I like and this recording by Fabio Biondi and Europa Galante hits the button every single time.
Buy it and enjoy !
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