Composer: Antonio Vivaldi
Performer: La Serenissima, Sara Deborah Struntz, Peter Whelan, Pamela Thorby
Conductor: Adrian Chandler
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: Avie
Catalogue: AV2201
Release: 2010
Size: 388 MB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: yes
Concerto “Conca” for Strings and Continuo in B-Flat Major, RV 163
01. Allegro – Allegro molto
02. Andante
03. Allegro
Concerto No. 9 in B flat major RV 530
04. Allegro
05. Largo e spiccato
06. Allegro
Bassoon Concerto, RV 500 in A minor
07. Allegro
08. Largo
09. Allegro
Concerto for Sopranino Recorder, Strings & Continuo in A Minor, RV 445
10. Allegro
11. Largo
12. All egro molto
Concerto VI from La cetra for 2 Violins, Strings & Continuo in B-Flat Major, RV 526
13. Allegro
14. Largo
15. Allegro
Sonata for Recorder, Bassoon & Continuo in A Minor, RV 86
16. I. Largo
17. II. Allegro
18. III. Largo
19. IV. Allegro molto
20. Concerto Fragment for Bassoon, Strings & Continuo in D Minor, RV 482: Allegro molto
21. Concerto Fragment for Sopranino Recorder, Strings & Continuo in G Major, RV 312: Allegro molto
Violin Concerto in E major, RV271 ‘L’Amoroso’
22. Allegro
23. Largo / Cantabile
24. Allegro
The playing of Adrian Chandler and his crack period-instrument band La Serenissima emulates the title of their eighth release for Avie, mining the treasures of Vivaldi’s vast output.
Who are these Gods, Emperors and Angels in the title of the latest virtuoso vehicle for Adrian Chandler and his dazzling period-instrument band La Serenissima? Vivaldi was connected to many Highnesses on the European continent, foremost among them the widely cultured Holy Roman Emperor Charles IV to whom Vivaldi dedicated his set of concertos titled La Cetra, meaning “The Lyre,” hence likening the emperor to the lyre playing god Apollo. The theme continues with the oddly titled Concerto Conca or “Conch Concerto,” alluding to the use of the conch shell as a musical trumpet, heard in the work’s first movement, and as used by Triton, son of Neptune and Amphitrite, and by Neptune’s attendants. The Angels are undoubtedly Vivaldi’s virtuoso female students at the Ospedale della Pietà, one of which was described in a contemporary anonymous poem: “She plays the violin in such a way / that anyone hearing her is transported to Paradise / if indeed it is true that up there / the angels play like that.”
Chandler and his forces, delivering their eighth imaginative album for Avie, play like gods, emperors and angels indeed, further securing their exalted place in the realms of early music performance.