Vivaldi: Il cimento dell’armonia e dell’inventione Op. 8

L'Arte Dell'Arco

95045

The four famous concertos of Il cimento dell’armonia e dell’inventione, Le quattro stagioni (‘The Four Seasons’) have previously been recorded hundreds of times, and have been heard in concert halls around the world since their rediscovery at the beginning of the 20th century. L’Arte dell’Arco and their leader Federico Guglielmo offer a new interpretation of the works by stripping back the embellishments and excessive ornamentation added over the years and reintroducing the essential element of simplicity: there is just one player to a part, thereby revealing the underlying structure and a welcome transparency of sound. The other works of the Opus 8 are similar to the more famous Seasons with their distinguishing titles added by Vivaldi: ‘La tempesta di mare’, like the Seasons, adds an element of nature, while ‘La caccia’ depicts a rural scene not dissimilar to ‘L’autunno’ of the Four Seasons, though this time with a deeply introspective Adagio section. This release also includes two concertos featuring the solo oboe rather than the violin, an instrument particularly well suited to the tessitura of the works, which are less virtuosic than some of the previous concertos.

CD x 2

Brilliant Classics

2019-11-13

5028421950457