Vibrant Vivaldi:
Vivaldi is played with excitement by Europa Galante, a string and woodwind orchestra 13 strong here. Some collections of Vivaldi concertos can sound a bit monotonous, but not this carefully selected group of emotively titled short pieces. Instrumentation is varied, the playing is enthusiastic and energetic as needed, and the strings really bite in the staccato "Sea Tempest," the waves slapping hard on the boat. The 6-movement "Night" is remarkably eerie and ghostly, particularly if you can cleanse your ears of all the chromatic pieces written since and try to listen with 18th century expectations. RV 234 is full of unsettling "Apprehension" no matter what later music you have heard, displaying a harried and rapidly modulated sense of harmonic uncertainty. The brief notes with the CD are a slightly strange mixture of English and untranslated Italiano. Fresh and well worth listening closely.
Do you really like waiting ? Aimez-vous attendre"l'eco" ?:
I know Biondi and Europa Galante since they were playing on the label Opus 111. I am a great fan of Europa galante. But...I was quite disappointed when I heard this CD. Mainly because I did not find Biondi the arrogant. But he can't certainly not played like "a little electric tornado" in the "Concerto funebre". It's the same in Concerto "Per eco in lontano". I particularly hate this music with this boring echo;the same music which is repeated from " outer space". The Concerto "Il riposo.."is perfect to relax with the dog. "L'inquietude" is outstanding. Even better than the Carmignola version on Divox Antiqua (1995). "La tempesta di mare" and La Notte" are enough strange and captivating to be considered as interesting performances. But they not be compared with the fabulous interpretation of Jean-Christophe Spinosi (Ensemble Matheus-2002-Label Naive). Finally the "Concerto for 2 cellos and orchestra" has already been recorded in 1993 by Europa Galante(album "Vivaldi Concerti" (Vol.22. Opus 111)). So no great surprise for me there. A very good CD to someone who want to discover Vivaldi with talentuous musicians.
lively vivaldi:
I'm not a baroque expert as some of the other reviewers seem to be. I do listen to a lot of music and have heard much Vivaldi -- most frequently the Four Seasons warhorse from Opus 8. This Vivaldi is quite enjoyable, very bright and very well played, energetic and well-recorded. My personal favorite was the last work for two cellos. The slow movement is absolutely beautiful. RV 270 is also quite excellent. This is a worthwhile purchase. Sometimes when period groups play his music Vivaldi sounds mummified but not here. Recommended.
Biondi rulez...:
I know I have been very negative in my other reviews of Biondi-cds. Actually, I almost take it back! He is NOT an opera-conductor, period. But he IS a brilliant violinist! His playing in the Vivaldi concertos is just outstanding. The orchestra is also amazing. I really recommends this set of concertos to anyone not familiar with the Biondi legacy!
HOT RECORDING:
It has been said that Vivaldi's Violin Concerti can give one the impression that he wrote the same concerto about a 1000 times. Perhaps the reason for the aforesaid impression is that there are many recordings and/or performances that exhibit little imagination in the programming of the concertos or in the playing of same. In other words, they border on being rather boring with a feeling of repeativeness. This recording is the exception. Fabio Biondi and the Europa Galante in this recording perform these concertos in a "hot" and most exciting manner that made me feel that I was hearing them for the very first time. I know that the programming of the disc also had a lot to do with me not getting bored while listening to this recording. Fabio Biondi and the Europa Galante are an "original" instrumental group without even a hint of the astringency usually associated with "original" instruments. Their playing is rather sweet in the slow movements as it is certainly very vigorous in the fast movements with no "mouth puckering" bite! I really loved the concerto for two cellos; it is very richly textured and sonorous; plus Europa Galante plays it splendidly. Believe me, I found this Vivaldi recording, for once, to be very exciting and a most enjoyable listening experience! If you want to hear a "hot" recording of some Vivaldi at his best, buy this disc.
| Binding: | Music Download | | Genre: | classical-music-concertos | | Publication Date: | 2005-12-27 | | Release Date: | 2005-12-27 | | Running Time: | 0 seconds |
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