Day 227
Vivaldi: Tw violin concertos
Violin Concerto in C RV181a
Holland Baroque Society
Rachel Podger
Violin Concerto in C RV187
Il Giardino Armonico
Victoria Mullova
My knowledge of Vivaldi is largely confined to the Gloria (which we sang at school), the Four Seasons and a few of the bassoon concerto. Of course there is a lot more to go at. There is a famous saying that Vivaldi didn't write 400 concertos - he wrote one concerto 400 times. Sometimes this saying is attributed to Stravinsky but I have never seen it properly sources, and in different versions the number is 300 or 200 and sometimes it is only violin concertos that are included.
Whatever the source there is I think some truth in the anecdote. I selected a couple of concertos at random to sample. I have to say that I did find them rather like musical wallpaper. Not unpleasant but equally completely unmemorable. I certainly won't be trying to listen to the complete set anytime soon.
Incidentally what struck me in both performances (by different groups) is just how aggressive the performance of music of this era has become. The attack is worthy of Bartók or Stravinsky! Is this really how this music would have sounded at the time?
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