Vivaldi

‘The French Connection’

La Serenissima / Adrian Chandler (vn)

Avie AV2178 Read review

Adrian Chandler and La Serenissima were short-listed in the Baroque Instrumental category at the 2009 Gramophone Awards for Volume 3 in their “The Rise of the North Italian Violin Concerto” series. “The French Connection” represents a new departure for Chandler and his ensemble as they start to explore the rich and varied world of Vivaldi’s wind concertos alongside the more familiar violin concertos. As Lindsay Kemp observed in his review, “Who can blame Chandler for looking for a way to programme and market Vivaldi that avoids filling it with 10 works all of the same type? The orchestral sound, as always with La Serenissima, achieves bright attractiveness and vivacity without feeling the need to pursue the taut energy of some other groups.”

Interview with Adrian Chandler

Prior to this album we made three records that had fairly traditional titles (“The Rise of the North Italian Violin Concerto”, Vols 1-3). The music was fantastic, but there was a strong academic element to them. I think classical music is in a bit of a state: it’s not the music’s fault, of course, it’s how it’s presented to people. I wanted to start making records that were more appealing to a wider audience. I’d just watched the film The French Connection and thought that that would be a great title for a Vivaldi album because of Vivaldi’s links with France. The album is not intended to sound French as such, the works just have various connections to France. Also, I wanted to get away from the reams and reams of violin concertos because there’s so much great wind repertoire and I have two great players in Katy Birch (flute) and Peter Wheelen (bassoon).