Customer Reviews

Vivaldi: Concert for the Prince of Poland

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Easily the best CD I've purchased this year. Vivaldi performed on these old instruments isn't the Vivaldi your parents listened to. Fabulous musicianship, thoughtful interpretation, rich instrument tones and "front row" accoustics make recording magic. I'm buying a quantity for holiday gift giving. Do yourself a favor and travel back in time with this selection. I only hope that the Prince got to hear it like this.

I doubt that Vivaldi's been played with this much exuberance and delicacy since the 18th century. A great collection of concerti beautifully performed and recorded. Andrew Manze and the Academy of Ancient Music have outdone themselves. If you love baroque music this is a great disc for you, if you're not sure this is a great place to start.

If you think that all Vivaldi concerti sound alike, you have a point. It's hard not to recognize his style, even upon hearing a piece for the first time. But the point is pointless. Within his stylistic vocabulary, Vivaldi achieved subtle and poignant variety. This album makes a strong case for Vivaldi as a master craftsman of music, and it makes that case most strongly for the listener who does understand what he/she is hearing in technical terms.
The performance is superb: excellent balance, excellent acoustics, unbeatable ensemble, heavenly tuning. The reviewer who called this disc "lifeless" must be a country music fan.

I'll warn you up front that this review is coming from a person who is not well schooled in the art of classical music. My philosophy has simply been (and this applies to all styles of music that I enjoy) that good music will strike a responsive chord within the listener.

What appealed to me about this particular work was not only the fact that it was originally performed on a March night in 1740 with the involvement of director/composer Antonio Vivaldi, it is performed on this CD using period instruments. When listening to this music I can mentally recreate the image of what it must have been like to be among the concertgoers with the Prince of Poland as they sat at the Pieta in Venice listening to Vivaldi direct what may have been by some accounts his last compositions. [Vivaldi died July 1741, penniless and almost forgotten.]

Vivaldi is perhaps best known to the general public for "The Four Seasons," but this "Concert for the Prince of Poland" has its rewards. It is a truly joyful and exhilarating listening experience. RECOMMENDED