The film The French Connection had a sequel, so why not indeed the Vivaldi CD? Having won a 2010 Gramophone Award with what we must now call “The French Connection, Vol 1”, Adrian Chandler courts further success with a second volume of concertos whose gallicisms range from patrons to genuine style-imprints, to the provenance of the original manuscript paper. As before, these things will ultimately matter little to the listener; they do not contribute to an overall sound or mood as much as the composer’s own personality does. More realistically, the disc is a coming together of diverse works that would not otherwise have kept one another company, put together by a mind brimming with Vivaldi minutiae and including two world premiere recordings alongside such better known fare as the La notte flute concerto.

La Serenissima remain buoyant and sweet, eschewing the taut, opaque sound of many of today’s Baroque orchestras, and embracing something more relaxed and open, helped by a pleasing bloom. The main soloists are as they were in Vol 1, with flautist Katy Bircher never letting her impressive virtuosity shut out softness of tone or approach (as she shows in her gentle fade into the final ritornello of RV440), and bassoonist Peter Whelan likewise combining agility with lyricism and laid-back grace (the latter especially in the nocturnal slow movement of RV473). Gail Hennessy, by the way, is only half a soloist; although delivered without fault, her part in the unusual RV543 is entirely doubled by solo violin.

The premieres are RV431a, a cheerful flute concerto which was known to exist but which surfaced complete only last year; and the airily expansive violin concerto RV365, which Vivaldi’s much-rewritten manuscript has left in an ambiguous state. Chandler chooses his own solutions here but his eloquent performance of it is in any case reason enough to give it listening time.