Antonio Vivaldi: Concerti da Camera, Vol. 2 - Il Giardino Armonico

Antonio Vivaldi (Performer), Giovanni Antonini (Performer), Paolo Beschi (Performer), Marco Bianchi (Performer), Lorenzo Ghielmi (Performer), Alberto Grazzi (Performer), Paolo Grazzi (Performer), Enrico Onofri (Artist), Luca Pianca (Artist), Paolo Rizzi (Artist), Il Giardino Armonico (Artist) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Performer: Antonio Vivaldi, Giovanni Antonini, Paolo Beschi, Marco Bianchi, Lorenzo Ghielmi, et al.
• Audio CD (March 9, 1993)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Elektra / Wea
• ASIN: B000000SEN
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #216,124 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Concerto In C Major RV87: Adagio-Allegro

2. Concerto In C Major RV87: Largo

3. Concerto In C Major RV87: Allegro assai

4. Sonata No 12 In D Minor, Op. 1 RV63 'La Follia': Adagio: Tema con 19 variazioni

5. Concerto In G Minor RV103: Allegro ma cantabile

6. Concerto In G Minor RV103: Largo

7. Concerto In G Minor RV103: Allegro non molto

8. Concerto In C Major RV88: Allegro

9. Concerto In C Major RV88: Largo cantabile

10. Concerto In C Major RV88: Allegro molto

11. Concerto In F Major RV100: Allegro

12. Concerto In F Major RV100: Largo

13. Concerto In F Major RV100: Allegro

14. Concerto In D Major RV95 'La Pastorella': Allegro

15. Concerto In D Major RV95 'La Pastorella': Largo

16. Concerto In D Major RV95 'La Pastorella': Allegro

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Irresistible (volume 2), October 10, 2010

By 

Discophage (France) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Antonio Vivaldi: Concerti da Camera, Vol. 2 - Il Giardino Armonico (Audio CD)

Vivaldi's chamber concertos have everything that lovers of Vivaldi love in Vivaldi: the instrumental colors, the melodic invention, the atmosphere in the slow movements, the verve and the exuberant drive in the fast ones. Because they are "da camera" (chamber) doesn't mean they are small-scale or "Tafelmusik", background music suitable for meal-time. They are fully-fledged Vivaldi concertos, each with one or two predominant instrument assuming the role of soloist; the recorder is in fact featured in most; in this volume 2 it is joined in some concertos by oboe, by oboe and bassoon, or violin and bassoon, and all three in RV 95 "La Pastorella". The concertos don't sound "chamber" in the least, not in this recording. It is unbelievable the wealth of colors Vivaldi is able to draw and the excitement he is able to generate from recorder, oboe and bassoon, and not even the underpinning of a continuo (Concerto RV 103, tracks 5-7). In fact the lean textures of the chamber ensemble let you revel even more than in Vivaldi's "big" concertos in the pleasures of timbral color; just try the opening of the slow movement of RV 100 (track 12), with its dialogue of lute and voluble bassoon. And the volubility of the bassoon in the fast movements is irresistible.

Il Giardino Armonico's first disc, in 1988, not yet on Teldec, was already a selection of those chamber concertos, recorded for Nuova Era (see my review of Antonio Vivaldi: Chamber Concertos - RV103 / RV105 / RV107 / RV101 / RV98 "La Tempesta di Mare" / RV86 - Il Giardino Armonico or Vivaldi: Concerti da Camera / Il Giardino Armonico, reissued on Concerti Da Camera or Concerti Da Camara with another recital of Italian Sonatas by the ensemble). It was already excellent, but this recording of the complete concertos, made between 1990 and 1992, is even better: they have marginally more bite, drive and color. It also has stupendous sonic presence. Some variations in the Follia Sonata sound like machine-gun shots. I don't know if that's the way they played it in Vivaldi's time, but I sure am happy that it is the way they play it now.

And it's not even that I can recommend particularly one volume from the four as a "best" introduction. All these compositions are so exhilaratingly entertaining, it's like Scarlatti's Sonatas: if Vivaldi had composed 550 of them, I'd still be telling you to listen to all of them: each offers its rewards.

The other instalments in the series are Antonio Vivaldi: Concerti da Camera, Vol. 1 (Concerti, Op. 10) - Giovanni Antonini / Il Giardino Armonico, Concerti Da Camera 3 and Antonio Vivaldi: Concerti da Camera, Vol. 4 - Il Giardino Armonio. All four volumes have been reissued in a single box, Vivaldi: Concerti da Camera (Complete Recording).

3 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars They're mad!, August 30, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Antonio Vivaldi: Concerti da Camera, Vol. 2 - Il Giardino Armonico (Audio CD)

The music featured in this CD is not of the best Vivaldi, and not the best of his concerti da camera. But this version of 'La Follia', a set of 20 variations on the theme, published in Vivaldi's opus 1, is completely nuts! Heavy Metal meets Vivaldi... again.