This release, part of the Naïve label's invaluable series devoted to newly rediscovered works of Vivaldi, focuses on genres little known to even serious Vivaldi fans: the concertos for the sympathetic-string viola d'amore and orchestra and for the Conceri per archi, or Concertos for strings. The name of the latter seems paradoxical today. It might not have in Vivaldi's time: a concerto was simply a work of "concerted" contrasting forces, and all these pieces qualify. Nevertheless, the lack of the conventional opposition of ...
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This release, part of the Naïve label's invaluable series devoted to newly rediscovered works of Vivaldi, focuses on genres little known to even serious Vivaldi fans: the concertos for the sympathetic-string viola d'amore and orchestra and for the Conceri per archi, or Concertos for strings. The name of the latter seems paradoxical today. It might not have in Vivaldi's time: a concerto was simply a work of "concerted" contrasting forces, and all these pieces qualify. Nevertheless, the lack of the conventional opposition of solo and tutti seems to have spurred Vivaldi to an unusual degree of experimentation, and these are consistently fascinating pieces. Sample the Concerto conca in B flat major for strings, RV 163. A conca in Italian is a shell, and indeed a shell is sounded in the work (it's not quite a soloist, but a sound effect), evoking the Italian sailor who would play a long note on a big shell at sea. It's entirely absorbing, and as original as anything in the Four Seasons concertos. Many of...
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