Post by Admin on Mar 19, 2023 21:04:55 GMT
This video contains the complete recording of Vivaldi’s Op. 112 contains the 12 Violin Concertos Op. 7, published in Amsterdam in 1720. Prompted by the popular success of the previously published La Stravaganza and L’Estro Armonico Vivaldi wrote these concertos in the same vein: brilliant, dramatic, full of the vitality of Mediterranean life and colours.
After the enormous success of Vivaldi’s earlier collections La Stravaganza and L’Estro Armonico, his publisher Estienne Roger was eager to capitalise on the composer’s soaring popularity. With that in mind, Op.7 was published in 1720 containing 12 new concertos, ten for solo violin and two for solo oboe. However, it seems unlikely Vivaldi either authorised or approved of this publication, and recent research has even discovered that the authenticity of the concertos is doubtful, with at least the two oboe concertos certainly not by Vivaldi. The concertos may not bear the traditional Vivaldian hallmarks, with movements simplified or moved around, but they are still a worthy tribute to the composer, whether penned by the ‘Prete Rosso’ himself or not.
Federico Guglielmo leads his experienced and lively ensemble L’Arte dell’Arco from the front. A highly acclaimed soloist, Guglielmo has been an active performer on the early music circle for many years, having played alongside such groups as the Academy of Ancient Music and the Handel & Haydn Society of Boston. This time he is joined by oboist Pier Luigi Fabretti, who has previously performed with Concerto Köln and I Barocchisti, among others.
Vivaldi: Violin Concertos (Op. 11 & 12)
With this new release, L’Arte dell’Arco complete their survey of the concertos and sonatas Opp. 1-12 which spread the fame of Antonio Vivaldi across Europe thanks to their publication by Etienne Roger in Amsterdam. These final two sets were published in 1729, 18 years after the L’estro armonico collection Op.2 had created a sensation with their unprecedented brilliance of solo writing, rhythmic vivacity and originality of disposition between solo and accompaniment.
Federico Guglielmo contributes a scholarly note to the booklet, in which study of the manuscripts have uncovered new contexts to these concertos. Although it is uncertain how much Vivaldi supervised their publication, and to what degree they are compilations of earlier work, the concertos bear the hallmarks of the fully mature composer. By this time in his full maturity, Vivaldi was highly receptive to the appeal of the new galant taste, enriched by his experience with opera, and sensitive to discussion with acclaimed composers such as Leonardo Vinci, Nicola Porpora and Leonardo Leo. Two of them were likely written for one Anna Maria, a student of particular virtuoso abilities at the Ospedale della Pieta where Vivaldi was the long-serving music master. The final concerto of Op.11 was originally conceived as an oboe concerto, and in that form is presented here.