In the light of Cecilia Bartoli's recent high- profile efforts to promote Vivaldi the dramatist (Decca, 12/99), it is a happy coincidence that brings us this selection of 'nature concertos' in which the players so attractively utilise not only their pictorial imaginations but also their awareness of the importance of opera to this most famous of concerto composers. Their success, however, comes not from thrusting aggressive musical drama in your face in the way others might, but rather (if their insert-note is to be believed) by taking note of the musical similarities between these concertos and Vivaldi's opera arias, and by visualising the scenes he depicts as they can still be seen in the paintings of his time. The results are captivating; charming as Vivaldi always is, yet also with a vision and interpretative alertness which can, in a moment, carry the listener's thoughts, if not exactly to real storms at sea or twittering birdlife, then at least to what one imagines to be a typical 18th-century Venetian view of them.
The seven works range from conventionally scored violin concertos such as the scintillating sea storm La tempesta di mare and the less programmatic La caccia ('The hunt') and Il rosignuolo ('The nightingale', though better known, oddly enough, in a slightly different version as 'The cuckoo') to three works more familiar either as flute concertos or as 'chamber concertos' with prominent parts for solo recorder. The use here of a violin (Vivaldi's permitted alternative) replaces the recorder's piercing, often unyielding tones with an altogether sweeter and more beguiling representation both of the nocturnal visitations of La notte and of the chirping goldfinch of Il gardellino.
Sonatori de la Gioiosa Marca plays one-to-a-part on period instruments, allowing itself a delicious lightness, agility and clarity which suits its purpose very well. Soloist Giuliano Carmignola has a ready technique and a pleasing sound, though I wished at times for more outgoing warmth (for instance, at the lovely melodic outburst - is it sunrise? - in the last movement of La notte). There are a few blemishes - including an aberrational lute chord in the middle movement of La tempesta di mare and a fair sprinkling of sniffs and squeaks - but the pleasures of this disc outweigh these by far. Recommended to brighten anyone's day.
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