Also, Bach: Six concertos after l’estro armónico by Antonio Vivaldi. CD1: Vivaldi: Concerto No. 1 for 4 Violins in D Major, Op. 3, RV 549; Concerto No. 2 for 2 Violins in G Minor, Op. 3, RV 578; Concerto No. 3 for Violin in G Major, Op. 3, RV 310; Bach: Concerto for Solo Harpsichord after RV 310 in F Major, BWV 978; Vivaldi: Concerto No. 10 for 4 Violins in B Minor, Op. 3, RV 580; Bach: Concerto for 4 Harpsichords and Strings after RV 580 in A Minor, BWV 1065; Vivaldi: Concerto No. 11 for 2 Violins and Cello in D Minor, Op. 3, RV 565; Bach: Concerto for Solo Organ after RV 565 in D Minor, BWV 596; Vivaldi: Concerto No. 12 for Violin in E Major, Op. 3, RV 265; CD2: Bach: Concerto for Solo Harpsichord after RV 265 in C Major, BWV 976; Vivaldi: Concerto No. 4 for 4 Violins in E Minor, Op. 3, RV 550; Concerto No. 5 for 2 Violins in A Major, Op. 3, RV 519; Concerto No. 6 for Violin in A Minor, Op. 3, RV 356; Concerto No. 7 for 4 Violins in F Major, Op. 3, RV 567; Concerto No. 8 for 2 Violins in A Minor, Op. 3, RV 522; Bach: Concerto for solo organ after RV 522 in A Minor, BWV 593; Vivaldi: Concerto No. 9 for Violin in D Major, Op. 3, RV 230; Bach: Concerto for Solo Harpsichord after RV 230 in D Major, BWV 972. Rinaldo Alessandrini, director and solo harpsichord, Concerto Italiano; Lorenzo Ghielmi, organ; Andrea Buccarella, Salvatore Carchiolo, Ignazio Schifani, harpsichords. Naïve OP 7367.
By Karl W. Nehring
This is one of those releases that grabs your attention right from the very start and never really lets go. It opens with Vivaldi’s Concerto No. 1 in D Major for 4 Violins, RV 549, which features an opening allegro movement that takes no prisoners. But before getting too far into specifics, it might be best to talk a bit about the overarching idea behind this album. As you can glean from the header above, what we have here are related compositions by two composers who lived at about the same time but in different parts of Europe. Vivaldi was born in 1678 in Venice, Italy; he published these concertos in Amsterdam in 1911 at the age of 33. Bach was born in Eisenach, Germany, in 1685.
The liner notes point out that “a famous passage in Forkel’s biography gives the young Bach’s study of Vivaldi’s concertos an essential role in his education and there can be no doubt that he had the opportunity to reflect and work on the relevance of Vivaldi’s invention for his own music, assimilating structural and even melodic ideas from it. In fact, the transcription of Italian keyboard concertos was a widespread fashion at that time. Bach was undoubtedly stimulated to transcribe various originals in Weimar by Prince Johann Ernst, a lover of Italian music. His approach was invasive, as one might expect from Bach. This quintessentially German composer did not want to renounce the fascination of a more thoroughgoing use of counterpoint and even allowed himself some substantial changes to the structure and texture. His first task, however, was to create transcriptions that were idiomatically suited to the instruments. Whether he is transferring the music to the harpsichord or organ, Bach does not merely ‘copy’ Vivaldi’s notes, but elaborates on them, creating a sonic entity appropriate to the characteristics and possibilities of the respective instruments… One might be led to believe that these transcriptions were not intended as a tribute to Vivaldi, but rather as a gesture of defiance on Bach’s part, with the aim of demonstrating how well-crafted concertos could be transformed, in his view, into compositions of greater complexity and depth.”
Interspersing Bach’s keyboard arrangements amongst Vivaldi’s original compositions is an idea that works well in practice, especially when presented in such lively performances as we have here from Maestro Alesandrini and Concerto Italiano, the chamber orchestra that he formed in 1984, plus the organ and harpsichord performers named above. The music moves right along, but never feels rushed.
Concerto Italiano is a small group comprising four violins, two violas, a cello, double bass, and theorbo (a plucked string instrument similar to a lute), plus Alessandrini on harpsichord. Their small size (not to mention their vast experience in playing just this sort of music) makes them nimble and responsive, leading to a clarity of sound that is perfect for this sort of music. The occasional change in sonority in switching from orchestra to solo keyboard offers a refreshing sonic change of pace from time to time. In any case, be it orchestra or organ or harpsichord, the sound quality is natural and lifelike, with excellent transparency and no edge in the upper registers. It’s an album bursting with joy, well worth an audition, especially for those who have a tendency to go for Baroque.
KWN
By Karl W. Nehring
The liner notes point out that “a famous passage in Forkel’s biography gives the young Bach’s study of Vivaldi’s concertos an essential role in his education and there can be no doubt that he had the opportunity to reflect and work on the relevance of Vivaldi’s invention for his own music, assimilating structural and even melodic ideas from it. In fact, the transcription of Italian keyboard concertos was a widespread fashion at that time. Bach was undoubtedly stimulated to transcribe various originals in Weimar by Prince Johann Ernst, a lover of Italian music. His approach was invasive, as one might expect from Bach. This quintessentially German composer did not want to renounce the fascination of a more thoroughgoing use of counterpoint and even allowed himself some substantial changes to the structure and texture. His first task, however, was to create transcriptions that were idiomatically suited to the instruments. Whether he is transferring the music to the harpsichord or organ, Bach does not merely ‘copy’ Vivaldi’s notes, but elaborates on them, creating a sonic entity appropriate to the characteristics and possibilities of the respective instruments… One might be led to believe that these transcriptions were not intended as a tribute to Vivaldi, but rather as a gesture of defiance on Bach’s part, with the aim of demonstrating how well-crafted concertos could be transformed, in his view, into compositions of greater complexity and depth.”
Concerto Italiano is a small group comprising four violins, two violas, a cello, double bass, and theorbo (a plucked string instrument similar to a lute), plus Alessandrini on harpsichord. Their small size (not to mention their vast experience in playing just this sort of music) makes them nimble and responsive, leading to a clarity of sound that is perfect for this sort of music. The occasional change in sonority in switching from orchestra to solo keyboard offers a refreshing sonic change of pace from time to time. In any case, be it orchestra or organ or harpsichord, the sound quality is natural and lifelike, with excellent transparency and no edge in the upper registers. It’s an album bursting with joy, well worth an audition, especially for those who have a tendency to go for Baroque.
KWN
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