Recordings of Vivaldi cello concertos are always, or perhaps I should say, nearly always welcome. As with the even more numerous concertos for bassoon they often seem to bring out distinctive qualities in Vivaldi's writing which can be seen not only in the solo passages but more especially in the ritornellos. Miklos Perenyi is an extremely accomplished cellist whose spontaneous feeling for this repertoire is such that I happily waved aside any reservations I might have had about his unashamedly modern approach. He phrases beautifully, bows expressively and draws a fine dear sound from his instrument. Intonation is almost faultless and vibrato is applied in a controlled and thoughtful manner. In short this is splendid cello playing and such that deserves more enlightened orchestral support than is available here.
The Orchestra of the Franz Liszt Academy of Music are lively in spirit and tidy in ensemble but are also on the large side and their director, Aibert Simon, evidently has a predilection for long, poorly articulated phrases which sap the ritornellos of vigour. The opening movements of the Concerto in E flat—a rarity not otherwise available, I believe—and the Concerto in G major, are utterly spoilt by this practice which introduces an element of fatigue into the performances right from the start. Perenyi fares better in slow movements and especially those with only continuo support. His account of the slow movement of the E flat Concerto, which is of that type comes off beautifully with an expressive and weil poised account of a poignant piece. Finales suffer less from inapposite orchestral playing than opening movements, but in the end, the strongest feeling that one is left with is of what might have been. Perenyi, too, cannot be entirely cleared of attaching lead weights to Vivaldi's vivacious rhythms since, marvellous though the playing is in the slow movement of the G minor Concerto for two cellos, he and his partner, Laszlo Mezo, make a starchy meal of the opening one.
Inappropriate though much of this playing is, at least in matters of baroque style I find myself enjoying the strongest features of the cello playing enough to want to listen several times over. As I have implied, the music itself is good quality Vivaldi if not vintage but I long for our most experienced practitioners of period instruments to explore this rich seam of his invention, barely a handful of the 27 cello concertos have been recorded in convincingly stylish performances. Good sound but scanty presentation.'