Vivaldi con molti strumenti - McGegan - Spinosi - King

Concerto RV 577
Concerto RV 572
Concerto RV 566
Concerto RV 585
Concerto RV 556
Concerto RV 557
Concerto RV 576
Ensemble Matheus
Jean-Christophe Spinosi
Pierre Verany PV704052 (1997)


Concerto RV 558
Concerto RV 579
Concerto RV 555
Concerto RV 560
Concerto RV 559
Concerto RV 556
Ensemble Matheus
Jean-Christophe Spinosi
Pierre Verany PV796023 (1997)




Concerto RV 569
Concerto RV 552
Concerto RV 577
Concerto RV 568
Concerto RV 535
Concerto RV 562
Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra
Nicholas McGegan
Reference Recordings (1997)


Concerto RV 574
Concerto RV 579
Concerto RV 562
Concerto RV 97
Concerto RV 781
Concerto RV 555
Concerto RV 566
The King's Consort/Robert King
Hyperion 1998



Bonus disc (digital download)


Concerto RV 558
Concerto RV 454
Concerto RV 441
Concerto RV 443
New York Philharmonic/Leonard Bernstein
Sony 1958







Flac, cue, logs and full scans 

Review (Clarinet and Chalumeaux Concertos)

This new disc brings together all the concertos in which Vivaldi provides parts for chalumeau or the slighty later, more versatile, clarinet. The background history of these single-reed instruments in Italy and, more specifically, Venice, is provided in a detailed accompanying essay by Michael Talbot. He notes that Vivaldi is the only composer in Italy known to have written for the chalumeau and that the three concertos by him that have clarinet parts – they seem to date from the 1720s – are among the earliest to have been composed in any country.
Chalumeaux and clarinets are but two sources of striking orchestral colour in the six concertos played here. Alongside them, at one time or another, are pairs of recorders, one or two oboes, a pair of trumpets, two concertino harpsichords and much else besides. The most sumptuously scored of them all is the Concerto in C major (RV558) which includes parts for recorders, chalumeaux, theorbos, mandolins, two violins “in tromba marina” and cello. A splendid example of the tromba marina is illustrated in Filippo Bonanni’s Gabinetto armonico (1722), though quite how Vivaldi adapted his violins to make the extraordinary noises that must have emanated from it is uncertain. Ensemble Matheus, firing on all cylinders, give an exuberant, noisy account of the piece, introducing what sounds uncannily like a pair of castanets in the opening movement, though it is probably achieved by the bows of stringed instruments.
Of considerably greater musical interest, however, are the Concerto funebre (RV579) and the Concerto per la Solennita di San Lorenzo (RV556). The first of these, scored for solo violin, muted chalumeau and oboe, three viole all’inglese and muted strings, has a strikingly effective opening, heard to even greater effect, perhaps, in its context as solemn music before an intended execution in Vivaldi’s opera Tito Manlio (1719). The Concerto for the Feast of St Lawrence, recorded here in its earlier, more richly orchestrated version, is a festive work with prominent parts for two concertino violins. The writing for them is full of fantasy and caprice, with all kinds of interesting effects provided by the recorders, oboes, clarinets and bassoon which either partner them or punctuate their flights of fancy in the two allegro movements. Much prominence is furthermore given here to the theorbo of the continuo. The central slow movement is unusual, consisting of two-part writing for violin (upper strand), and a variety of instruments including two unison clarinets and a pizzicato violin which, in fact, I could not trace in this performance.
The remaining concertos are two for pairs of oboes and clarinets with strings – both of these are well known to collectors of Vivaldi’s music on disc – and another Concerto in C major (RV555) for a rich assortment of instruments which will be entirely unfamiliar to the majority of Vivaldi enthusiasts. An interesting feature of this piece is the inclusion of two obbligato harpsichords, together with two recorders, an oboe, a chalumeau, two violins, two treble viole all’inglese and, in the finale only, two trumpets. What fun all those musically minded girls at the Venetian Ospedale della Pieta must have had; and what entertainment lay in store for an audience which can hardly have anticipated what Vivaldi was going to get up to next.
All this should be enough to whet your appetite and, by and large, you should not be disappointed. A larger-than-life picture of Vivaldi, without a hint of preciosity. Strongly recommended.'

Nicholas Anderson