Vivaldi: Misc. Concertos. Les Violons du Roy/Mathieu Lussier. ATMA. Total Time: 58.49.
Vivaldi: Sacred Music Volume 4. Claire de Sévigné, sop. Maria Soulis, mezzo-sop. Aradia Ensemble/Kevin Mallon. Naxos. Total Time: 59.48.
Vivaldi: Teatro alla Moda. Violin Concertos. Gli Incogniti/Amandine Beyer. Harmonia Mundi. Total Time: 73.08.
As everyone knows all too well, Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741) wrote hundreds of pieces in many different forms and genres and for almost every combination of voices and/or instruments. Not every piece is a winner but the average is surprisingly high. When I recorded several albums of Vivaldi cello concertos with Ofra Harnoy (RCA Victor Red Seal, 1989-1992), I was amazed at how Vivaldi could so often find something new to say within the formal and harmonic limits of his time.
In our time, we have come to know a lot more about how Vivaldi’s music ought to be played and sung. We understand the style much better and we have much greater knowledge of the instruments he used and how they should be played. All three of these recent recordings reflect the best of current scholarship and I am delighted to say that two of them are ‘Made in Canada’. It was Tafelmusik that blazed the trail for others to follow in Canada and now we have several other fine period instrument or historically informed ensembles.
Both Bernard Labadie and Les Violons du Roy (LVR), which he founded in Quebec City in 1984, have earned international recognition. The musicians of LVR use modern instruments fitted with copies of period bows and try to reflect the current understanding of period performance practice. Several years ago, Labadie suffered a serious illness that put him out of action for an extended period but he is now back conducting, although operating on a more limited schedule. Some of the slack has been taken up by LVR Associate Conductor, Mathieu Lussier, who does a fine job in this collection of concertos for various combinations.
The Toronto-based Aradia Ensemble has been churning out dozens of recordings for Naxos, including several devoted to the music of Vivaldi; unfortunately, this latest release is far from top-drawer Vivaldi and the performances are little better than routine. That said, soprano Claire de Sévigné, who is outstanding in the motets In turbato mare irato RV 627 and O qui coeli terraeque serenitas RV 631, has a range that has to be heard to be believed.
The European group known as Gli Incogniti, comprised of just four violins, one viola, one cello and a violone (bass), is a little smaller than either of the others. Interestingly, the continuo includes not only harpsichord or organ but also theorbo, a sort of bass lute. The addition of the theorbo gives the group a pleasing plushness of sound and also helps make the continuo part, which is all but inaudible on the other recordings, more prominent.
Gli Incogniti took its name from the ‘Accademia degli Incogniti’, a society of Venetian intellectuals active from 1630 to 1651, one of whose members wrote the libretto for Monteverdi’s opera L’Incornazione di Poppea. Their album, Teatro alla Moda (The Fashionable Theatre), is named after a satirical book by Benedetto Marcello published in 1720, in which Vivaldi’s predilection for incorporating birds and animals in his music, his depiction of such phenomena as the seasons, and his indulgence in all manner of unusual violinistic effects were satirized.
Teatro alla Moda includes several virtuosic violin concertos, a ballet score and an opera overture, all of which are performed with stunning energy and imagination by the musicians of Gli Incogniti.
Vivaldi: Misc. Concertos. Les Violons du Roy is available via Amazon.ca and iTunes.
Vivaldi: Sacred Music Volume 4 is available via Amazon.com and iTunes.
Vivaldi: Teatro alla moda is available via Amazon.com and iTunes.
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