Vivaldi - Violin Concertos RV331, 190, 325, 217 & 303
Carmignola; Venice Baroque Orchestra / Marcon
Archiv 477 6005

Release date June 2006

Giuliano Carmignola and the Venice Baroque Orchestra, conducted by Andrea Marcon, received glowing critical acclaim for their first release, Concerto Veneziano. Their new recording of five previously unrecorded Vivaldi violin concerti deserves a similar response. The recording simply glows from start to finish. The collection of concerti on this disc has been chosen specially for Carmignola by Vivaldi scholars. Both soloist and orchestra have managed to strike the balance between grandeur and delicacy in these works; and Marcon has also succeeded in finding the perfect balance between soloist and orchestra. The orchestra has its own moments of splendour, for example in the opening bars of the Largo movement of Concerto in C, RV190 and the beginning of Concerto in G minor, RV325. Throughout all the works, Carmignola seems unperturbed by even the longest of phrases, played as one easy breath, all the while sounding clean and fresh. There are around another forty violin concertos by Vivaldi that have yet to be recorded; hopefully the Venice Baroque Orchestra and Carmignola will be able to put their mark on these in the future.

Ruth Squire