There is enough of Vivaldi's music for the lute, though not of that for the mandolin, to occupy a whole record, so a shared programme offers a sensible solution; so excellent is this present LP that you don't need to worry overly about others that have followed the same pattern. There is doubt as to exactly what Vivaldi meant by 'mandolino', though not in the minds of mandolinists, and here it is taken to be a gut-strung, soprano lute played with a plectrum. So says the sleeve-note—but we are also told that Robin Jeffrey plays the (mandolin' (after Stradivarius). Whoever plays what, matters less than the result of their labours, in this instance exemplary in every way. O'Dette is perhaps the most fleet-fingered lutenist now playing but he does not (pardon the metaphor) let his fingers go to his head; rather is it that, as an informed musician, his head and good taste guide his fingers. Whilst few movements, e.g. the first of RV93, go at a joyous gallop with no sense of strain, others breathe relaxation, as in the Largo of the same concerto, quite beautifully and fluidly embellished. In RV540, O'Dette uses a baroque lute—Lindberg uses an archlute in his recording (BIS LP290, 9/85), my preference for which rests, however, on the presence of his partner, Monica Huggett, which is no reflection on Roy Goodman's partnership with O'Dette.
The Parley of Instruments, despite moments of edgy tone, provide marvellous support in which Peter Holman's choice of the organ as continuo instrument is most effective—though his sleeve-note contention that ''the harpsichord is a disagreeably jangling accompaniment for the lute'' is one that will raise a few eyebrows, beginning with my own. No matter though, this is a record to treasure for its contents and to admire for the quality of its recording.'