Vivaldi x2: Double Concertos

Adrian Chandler, Adrian Chandler (violin), Rachel Chaplin (oboe), Mark Baigent (oboe), Peter Whelan (bassoon), Anneke Scott (horn), Jocelyn Lightfoot (horn), Vladimir Waltham (cello), La Serenissima

Following their widely acclaimed recording of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons (AV2344) and a Gramophone Award-winning assortment of Italian concertos on The Italian Job (AV2371), Adrian Chandler and the superb musicians of La Serenissima return with an all-Vivaldi programme of double concertos. And once again they are on blistering form, their stylistically impeccable, animated and constantly alert playing as much a trademark as their imaginative, sensitive phrasing, dynamic shaping and textural richness. These are players who clearly relish every note, and their enthusiasm is as infectious as ever, in performances that benefit from having a healthily-balanced string ripieno section of eight violins, three violas, two cellos and one double bass.

Though representing just a fraction of Vivaldi’s fifty-odd surviving double concertos, the combinations in the seven examples here are nicely varied, with the concertante duos including braces of horns and oboes, as well as contrasting pairs of instruments: violin and cello, oboe and bassoon. For listeners familiar only with the composer’s more famous collections, such as L’estro armonico, op.3, La stravaganza, op.4 and La cetra, op.9, these works will be a revelation, and the disc opens with one of the most spectacular of the lot. The Concerto in F for 2 horns, RV 539, features eye-wateringly high solo lines that are unrivalled in the Baroque era (and equalled later only by some of the more stratospherically demanding Haydn symphonies). Probably composed for soloists who were primarily trumpeters, this work exploits an exceptionally wide tessitura, enabling the horns to play expressive lines in the slow movement – a most unusual feature for the period. The outer movements contain the customary hunting calls, but coupled with exceptionally agile and exciting passagework. Both here and in the earthier Concerto RV 538 (a lower-lying but hugely enjoyable work), soloists Anneke Scott and Jocelyn Lightfoot wear their virtuosity lightly, aided by some stylishly vivid continuo playing.

Of the concertos for two oboes, the D minor, RV 535, is the only work on the disc cast in four movements (slow–fast–slow–fast), its da chiesa form and sombre tone suggesting it was destined for performance during a chapel service. The Largo third movement, with solo lines entwined together, is one of the emotional highlights of the programme, Rachel Chaplin and Mark Bagent putting their newly-commissioned Wolfgang Küber instruments (after the 18th-century master Anciuti) through their paces. The less overtly soloistic A minor Concerto, RV 536, has a particularly engaging opening movement, with jaunty violin interjections and thrumming Baroque guitar.

Vivaldi was, of course, really in his element when composing for stringed instruments, and the two concertos for violin and cello abound in idiomatic writing, expertly judged textures, inventiveness and tasteful display, all exquisitely realised by Chandler himself on solo violin partnered by cellist Vladimir Waltham. The A major Concerto, RV 546, with its bucolic tints, languorous slow movement, and stuck-in-the-groove finale with outbursts of solo display, is probably our personal favourite from the whole disc.

Another highlight, albeit very different in tone, is the G major Concerto for oboe and bassoon, RV 545 (featuring the excellent Rachel Chaplin and Peter Whelan). Its extensive soloists-only passages are ample proof that Vivaldi was equally at home writing for wind instruments, while the ripieno tutti in the finale crackles with urgency.

Chandler and his colleagues save the biggest surprise for last: the Concerto per S.A.S.I.S.P.G.M.D.G.S.M.B., whose intriguing title indicates (it has plausibly been suggested) that it was composed for Giuseppe Maria Gonzaga, Duke of Guastalla (1690-1746). At any rate, its extravagant scoring features – besides strings and continuo – 2 horns, 2 oboes, bassoon, violin and cello, i.e. all the soloists from the disc’s other works combined! With its jubilant horn fanfares, intricate passagework, rousing tuttis, and meltingly lovely, violin-dominated slow movement, it makes a wonderful conclusion to this sumptuous disc.

In a personal booklet note Adrian Chandler writes, ‘I am convinced that Vivaldi x2 represents some of La Serenissima’s finest recording work to date and that it is a worthy successor to The Italian Job’, and we very much agree with him. It presents a fascinating and constantly entertaining selection of lesser known Vivaldi concertos, combining fastidious research with musicianship of the highest standard. Another award winner, surely.