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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
26 of 27 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Vivaldi's formost exponent with a stunning display,
By
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This review is from: Vivaldi: Concerti per viola d'amore (Audio CD)
My recent forays into gamba playing, fresh in mind, have provided a healthy respect for producing clear intonation. The gamba is played on or between the knees. The viola da braccio is played on the arm. This viola da braccio acquired its name viola d'amore because of its nocturnal nature; its delicate, enigmatic, sensual sound giving it a mysterious character with a distinctive timbre. Its sonic qualities are due to its often being tuned to the principal notes of the tonic chord. Guitar players know this as open tuning, and often use its propensity for harmonic resonance during performance to provide an additional fullness to the sound. These frequent harmonics in the viola d'amore usually produce a soft sound with a pinched, nasal quality and are very suggestive of eastern instruments like the sarod or sitar. This is heightened by the addition, from the end of the 17th Century, of metal strings under the fingerboard. Their resonance, caused by the vibrations of the played strings, form a sonic field on the bottom that imparts a rhythmic chug or characteristic antiphonal quality which the soloist can use to great effect. In addition, the instrument's flat back forces the sound forward, making it softer and pinching it into the treble. In Vivaldi's day he would have used 6 principal strings and 6 sympathetic strings.
Biondi uses a similarly constructed viola d'amore, attributed to Giovanni Grancino (1675-1730), built in Milan in the first half of the 18th Century. He conducts his Europa Galante in the first concerted works produced for the instrument. There is an inevitable simularity between these concertos, given the nature of their construction, which is the typical Vivaldian fast-slow-fast, and the slightly reticent nature of the viola d'amore. Part of the challenge in performing these pieces is varying the phrasing sufficiently to overcome any hint of boredom, but never moving beyond the written score or the capabilities of the solo instrument. How Biondi manages this feat is part of the fun of listening to these splendid performances. Most of the orchestration is confined to strings. However, the Concerto in F major RV 97 has a hunting theme, complete with horns and winds, that produces a mini-drama in sound. The last concerto on this disc, the Concerto for viola d'amore and lute RV 540, inhabits its own sound world, fascinated by the conversation between differently configured string instruments. All of the concertos are beautifully recorded. The sound is warm, rich and full. Biondi and orchestra play splendidly. There is the usual Italianate authenticity in the warm and sunny sonority they produce in these lovely pieces. Another exemplary recording from the world's leading exponent of the Italian Baroque. The viola d'amore is a fascinating instrument, and it is especially well played and recorded here. Strongly recommended. Mike Birman
18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Biondi vincit amorem; viola vincit nos,
By Giordano Bruno (Wherever I am, I am.) - See all my reviews (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER) (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Vivaldi: Concerti per viola d'amore (Audio CD)
Finally! A recording of the viola d'amore that sounds like something more unique than a violin played oddly! Well, actually there's one other excellent performance, by Affetti Musicali, but this disk of Vivaldi's seven concerti for viola d'amore features the virtuosity of Fabio Biondi, who plays the instrument as if it were one he learned as a boy at Vivaldi's own knee. In fact, if Biondi never played anything but the viola d'amore, he'd still be one of the greatest fiddlers of our epoch. He knows exactly how much timbre he can extract from his resonating wood. He finds his way from the deepest clarinet-like tones of the instrument to the dog-whistle overtones of the sympathetic strings. And he gets around on the awkward oversized thing! But he also knows the limits of the instrument's dynamics, and he realizes that a trill or a touch of vibrato which might serve on the violin would muddy the color of his viola d'amore. Biondi is more than a fiddler; he's the avatar of the fiddle-god himself.
These concerti are more than oddities in Vivaldi's canon. Compositionally they rank with his best. The concerto for lute and viola d'amore is one of his last works, and one of his subtlest. I owe this stupendous CD to Mike Birman, who reviewed it first. Mike does an excellent job of describing what makes a viola d'amore different from an ordinary viola. Be sure to read his review also.
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Favorite Classical Release of 2007,
By
This review is from: Vivaldi: Concerti per viola d'amore (Audio CD)
I discovered these concertos earlier this year by way of another recording (Claudio Scimone on Erato) and fell in love with them. I also became a big Biondi fan this year, so it seemed like kismet when he released his own recording of these concertos, along with the great Concerto for viola d'amore and lute in D minor--the last selection on this disc.
Everything about this recording's excellent, from the too-neglected works themselves, to the gorgeous quality of sound, to the vivid performances by Biondi and Europa Galante. And one of the earlier reviewers is right: Biondi plumbs the depths of the viola d'amore like I haven't heard elsewhere, bringing out of the instrument's richest, duskiest colors. Biondi/EG's other Vivaldi recordings are astonishing, too. I can't recommend this recording enough.
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