Search - Antonio Vivaldi, John Toll :: Vivaldi: Seven Concertos

Very pleasant.

Vlmastra | Akron, OH | 07/28/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is a collection of Vivaldi's chamber concertos. The term 'chamber concerto' refers to the fact that they are scored for one instrument to a part, rather than for orchestra. These are some of Vivaldi's most unique and inventive works, and they represent a more introspective and thoughtful side to the composer. The concertos also have in common a prominent part for recorder (sometimes substituting for a flute in the original apparently) and bassoon. Here, the recording quality is very high, and the balance is nearly perfect, and very intimate: every instrument is easily heard distinctly. The harpsichord was brought forefront, which I think was a good idea: it only adds to the elegance of these works.



In the first concerto in D, Marion Verbruggen (on the recorder) takes some liberties as far as ornamentation, but they end up being fun to hear, if not 100% accurate. She takes a more conservative approach to most of the rest of this CD. I like the version on the "Complete Recorder Concertos" CD by NAXOS somewhat better, but this is still a good interpretation.



I'm not going to review every concerto on here, but they are all beautiful. The musicians are all very talented. Interestingly, to round out the CD, they included one of my favorite trio sonatas of Vivaldi. It mixes very well with the concertos, being of similar mood and instrumentation. This CD makes a good addition to any Baroque collection."

Pass on

Classics Explorer | Earth | 04/27/2010

(2 out of 5 stars)

"I don't know. All of them sound about the same. And the sad slow movements simply make no sense. I mean, WHY? What's the point? Really. Look elsewhere for good vivaldi I say. The fast movements all sound similar, and the violin and cello are mostly blurred by the winds anyway, so if you like strings mostly, you can forget this. You will mostly hear the recorder and the bassoon, only occasionally will you hear the old period violin, and more rarely you will hear the cello. Even though scored for several instruments, Vivaldi only uses some of them on the slow movements. In the fast movements you can't really know whether an oboe is even playing."