COMPOSERS: Vivaldi
LABELS: Virgin Veritas
WORKS: Il cimento dell’armonia e dell’inventione, Op. 8; Concertos, RV 516 & 546
PERFORMER: Monica Huggett (violin); Raglan Baroque Players/Nicholas Kraemer
CATALOGUE NO: VBD 5 61668 2 Reissue (1990)
Vivaldi’s Op. 8 contains 12 concertos, among which are the Four Seasons. Most readers will have at least one version of those but do not let that deter you from exploring many other comparably fine pieces in the set. The 11th Concerto is a particularly impressive one and is played by Monica Huggett with expressive and tonal warmth. That equally applies to the performances as a whole, though I regret the absence of an oboe in the two works (Nos 9 and 12 of the set) where Vivaldi, though providing an option between oboe and violin, clearly had the former uppermost in his mind. Two extra items, at the tail end of the second disc, make particular appeal. In one of them, a Concerto for two violins in G (RV 516), Huggett is joined by Elizabeth Wallfisch – Vivaldi concertos don’t come better than this one; in the other, for violin and cello in A (RV 546) she is joined by Timothy Mason. Nicholas Anderson
Vivaldi: Il cimento dell'armonia e dell'inventione, Op. 8; Concertos, RV 516 & 546
Vivaldi’s Op. 8 contains 12 concertos, among which are the Four Seasons. Most readers will have at least one version of those but do not let that deter you from exploring many other comparably fine pieces in the set. The 11th Concerto is a particularly impressive one and is played by Monica Huggett with expressive and tonal warmth. That equally applies to the performances as a whole, though I regret the absence of an oboe in the two works (Nos 9 and 12 of the set) where Vivaldi, though providing an option between oboe and violin, clearly had the former uppermost in his mind.
Our rating
5
Published: January 20, 2012 at 1:21 pm