Notte Veneziana

Baroque transcriptions from the Vienna Phil’s harpist

Record and Artist Details

Composer or Director: Giovanni Battista Pescetti, Antonio Vivaldi, Tomaso Giovanni Albinoni, Alessandro Marcello, Elias Parish Alvars, Félix Godefroid

Genre:

Instrumental

Label: Sony

Media Format: CD or Download

Media Runtime: 62

Mastering:

Stereo
DDD

Catalogue Number: 88697 93773-2

Tracks:

Composition Artist Credit
Concerto for Lute and Two Violins Antonio Vivaldi, Composer
Antonio Vivaldi, Composer
Ensemble l'arte del mondo
Ensemble l'arte del mondo
Werner Ehrhardt, Conductor
Xavier de Maistre, Harp
Xavier de Maistre, Harp
Concerto for Oboe and Strings Alessandro Marcello, Composer
Alessandro Marcello, Composer
Ensemble l'arte del mondo
Ensemble l'arte del mondo
Werner Ehrhardt, Conductor
Xavier de Maistre, Harp
Xavier de Maistre, Harp
(La) Mandoline (Grande Study in Imitation of the m Elias Parish Alvars, Composer
Elias Parish Alvars, Composer
Ensemble l'arte del mondo
Ensemble l'arte del mondo
Werner Ehrhardt, Conductor
Xavier de Maistre, Harp
Xavier de Maistre, Harp
(12) Concerti grossi, '(L')estro armonico', Movement: No. 3 in G, RV310 Antonio Vivaldi, Composer
Antonio Vivaldi, Composer
Ensemble l'arte del mondo
Ensemble l'arte del mondo
Werner Ehrhardt, Conductor
Xavier de Maistre, Harp
Xavier de Maistre, Harp
Adagio for Two Violins & Continuo Tomaso Giovanni Albinoni, Composer
Ensemble l'arte del mondo
Ensemble l'arte del mondo
Tomaso Giovanni Albinoni, Composer
Werner Ehrhardt, Conductor
Xavier de Maistre, Harp
Xavier de Maistre, Harp
Sonata Giovanni Battista Pescetti, Composer
Ensemble l'arte del mondo
Ensemble l'arte del mondo
Giovanni Battista Pescetti, Composer
Werner Ehrhardt, Conductor
Xavier de Maistre, Harp
Xavier de Maistre, Harp
(12) Concerti for Violin/Oboe and Strings, Movement: No. 8 in G, RV299 Antonio Vivaldi, Composer
Antonio Vivaldi, Composer
Ensemble l'arte del mondo
Ensemble l'arte del mondo
Werner Ehrhardt, Conductor
Xavier de Maistre, Harp
Xavier de Maistre, Harp
(12) Concerti for Violin and Strings, '(Il) cimento dell'armonia e dell'inventione', Movement: No. 4 in F minor, 'Winter', RV297 Antonio Vivaldi, Composer
Antonio Vivaldi, Composer
Ensemble l'arte del mondo
Ensemble l'arte del mondo
Werner Ehrhardt, Conductor
Xavier de Maistre, Harp
Xavier de Maistre, Harp
Carneval de Venise Félix Godefroid, Composer
Ensemble l'arte del mondo
Ensemble l'arte del mondo
Félix Godefroid, Composer
Werner Ehrhardt, Conductor
Xavier de Maistre, Harp
Xavier de Maistre, Harp
This is a delightful collection. Xavier de Maistre plays the harp with infinite finesse and much delicacy of colour. He offers four Vivaldi concertos and makes them sound as if they were actually written for the harp, with slow movements particularly enticing.

As he says in his note, ‘the glass-like sounds in Winter from The Four Seasons create an ethereal mood astonishingly reproducing snowflakes and splintering icicles’. The Marcello Concerto, although more robust, is no less winning, especially its gossamer Adagio. The name of Elias Parish Alvars is unfamiliar to me but his grande fantaisie is as captivating on the harp as on the mandolin for which it was written. The Albinoni Adagio is an arrangement of an arrangement but is enhanced by its intimacy. Xavier de Maistre’s own transcription of Giovanni Pescetti’s Sonata also floats by the ear engagingly. To close the programme, Félix Godefroid’s variations on the Carnaval de Venise offer plenty of opportunities for virtuosity but once again the appeal of the performance rests as much on delicate simplicity as extrovert bravura.

Throughout, L’Arte del Mondo, directed by Werner Ehrhardt, provide accompaniments of much finesse and vigour, and the balance (in the Bayer Kulturhaus, Leverkusen) has been expertly managed by the producer, Erich Hofmann. If you enjoy the harp, this CD is very recommendable indeed.

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