The recordings of the Concerto Italiano under its leader Rinaldo Alessandrini, such as this 1997 release, electrified the authentic-performance movement in Italy. Alessandrini showed that performances of Vivaldi on authentic instruments could be edgy, brisk, even tough. The group's ensemble work was unmatched, but perhaps best of all was its command of the Baroque repertory; programming has consistently featured unusual works that, in performances, sound like they've always been part of the tradition. Included here are ...
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The recordings of the Concerto Italiano under its leader Rinaldo Alessandrini, such as this 1997 release, electrified the authentic-performance movement in Italy. Alessandrini showed that performances of Vivaldi on authentic instruments could be edgy, brisk, even tough. The group's ensemble work was unmatched, but perhaps best of all was its command of the Baroque repertory; programming has consistently featured unusual works that, in performances, sound like they've always been part of the tradition. Included here are three examples of perhaps the most-neglected segment of Vivaldi's vast concerto output: his concertos for strings with no solo instrument. These works, as annotator Michael Talbot points out, tend to include mixtures of old-fashioned and up-to-the-minute (or even fashion-forward) styles. One does not associate the name of Vivaldi with the fugue, but the first movement of the Concerto for strings and continuo in E minor, RV 134, is a suitably academic example. Other movements in the...
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