Customer Reviews

Vivaldi: L'estro Armonico

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

 

 

Reading the other reviewer's text I couldn't believe it was the same recording I listened to. I'm pretty critical where Baroque performance is concerned (I'm an ex-pro cellist) but I've always loved ASMF's L'Estro Armonico. It has tremendous atmosphere (recording acoustic helps) and luminosity. There is a lightness mostly throughout with beautiful solo contributions especially from Alan Loveday and Carmel Kaine (who also feature in Vivaldi's La Stravaganza with ASMF-a 'must-listen!'). The continuo especially is varied and always interesting. All in all it strikes a balance between Period instrument fanaticism and the sweet tone of a modern ensemble.

I "have" this album. My CD, which has worn out, was recorded with just Christopher Hogwood and the Academy of Ancient Music. I, too had read the first review of two years ago. After listening online to excerpts, I conclude that Hogwood greatly influenced this recording. This rendition is smooth, yet as exciting, if not more so, than the Four Seasons. This album goes with fine wine, a drive in the country or just to paper over the tedium/confusion of everyday living.

I must refute the first reviewer's claim that Biondi does a better job. That recording falls more into the category of schizophrenic, manic depressive disorder. It mixes erratic tempos with disturbingly enormous dynamic changes, e.g. from pianissimo to fortissimo like a bad imitator of Mahler (which is not as bad as it sounds). You feel neither relaxed nor excited about the music--Lord knows I've tried, having listened to Biondi many times hoping that I'd see the light--there is no light on that recording. Biondi's album makes you feel as if you've taken a ride on a carriage with a wild horse at the fore and you can barely keep it from running over a cliff and smashing you to bits--as if the ensemble wanted to finish the dang piece ASAP and get the heck outta Dodge. Maybe they had hot dates.

THIS album, I want to buy five copies of, so that if each lasts about five years, I'll have enough for 25 years.

This is an excellent set of these Vivaldi Concertos. You may read other reviews that bad-mouth the livlihood or tempo of these recordings, but heed them not...

In order to more fully understand the quality behind these recordings, it is neccessary to understand the dynamics of a basso continuo. Christopher Hogwood is hands-down the greatest mind behind authentic boroque keyboard continuo. He breathes life into these concertos, although he is just one player in the group. Buy them for Marriner and the Fields.... enjoy them for Hogwood's continuo.

PS> There is a 7CD box set put out by DECCA that has one of the best recordings of the Four Seasons I've ever heard. It includes these two CDs as part of the set. I definatley recommend it! "Neville Marriner, ASMF, Christopher Hoggwood, Iona Brown.... Four Seasons, La Cetra, etc."

It is interesting to observe that this recording has become a document. The lush strings of the Academy directed by Neville Marriner were the last standard of the orchestra baroque playing before the "authentic" "ancient" and "what not" performance standards definitely took over in the 80ies. With time my ear recognized the virtues and enjoyed the performances in older instruments and methods. But some of Vivaldi's music, like most of J.S. Bach, has that magic ability to be played as well on ancient instruments or on the modern electronic gizmos of today. It is strange today to listen to this version of L'Estro Armonico, one of the very greatest works of the baroque. Strange and yet very satisfying, relaxing and even nurturing. A little bit like a Madeleine of Proust. Perhaps there is room again for that lush sound that introduced so many of us to the classics when we were young.

By all means, a must have for any serious or casual collector.

Note: the Academy was at its peak then.

I used to have this recording on vinyl and have been looking for it for years. I think ASMF has done it better than any one else. But the MP3 didn't start with Concerto 1 and some of the movements are out of order!!!! I agree with the 3 star reviews about this. I KNOW this music and and know this recording and find this VERY irritating. On the other hand I am thrilled to have the music performed so well again.

I love this performance, and there's nothing wrong with it. But if you can get your hands on an old tape or LP of Baumgartner's performance of the L'Estro Armonico at the 198x (unsure about the year) Festival of Lucerne, THAT is the best recorded rendition of these wonderful Vivaldi concertos. I wish I could buy that on CD.

there are other, better recordings. I too have had this recording for several years. It was my first recording of these concertos, and they served me well in those days. But since the time of these recordings, pushed perhaps by the advancement of period instrument play and the subsequent revival of interest in baroque music, the quality we might expect in such productions has risen greatly. Here, the precision of the orchestration and especially some of the soloist work on the second CD is quite shaky. Marriner is undoubtably a fine conductor and there are a slew of other great recordings to turn to in order to hear the ASMF create audible magic. This simply is not one of them. Explore some of the excellent guides out there (Gramophone, Penguin) in order to find a better recording of this lovely opus. I won't go so far as to say Biondi, in that his style is not to all tastes. But pass on this for others. I think even Sir Neville would concur.

This probably sounds pretty harsh to give such a great sounding and well-performed album a less-than-stellar review, but I have to think quite a bit of the small market for MP3's of this kind are musicians or music students studying the works... and in that case there is a significant issue.

I can't add anything to the reviews of the music (it is of great quality), but I really have to take issue with the way the filenames and ID3 tags were done in the MP3 downloads... would it kill Amazon to use their heads a little in choosing filenames and ID tags that help people find specific concertos, and movements within that concerto? Big hint: We KNOW what album the came from by the name of the directory it's in! Please don't duplicate that info in filenames and ID tags.

The track names are of no help in finding a specific movement in a specific concerto, unless you have the track listing handy (print out the album's page from amazon and carry it around with the player?)... they are all "XX 12 Concertos, Op.3 - "L'estro armonico" - Concerto No." where XX is the track number. Say I want to pull the first movement of the G Major concerto, RV310, into a player or a slow-down program. Right, I'm out of luck. I know I could fix all this given the right tag editor and a lot of error-prone typing, but these things should be right when I download the album.

The ID3 tags are only slightly better, the same mess perhaps followed by the concerto, movement and key... some are messed up as they are prefaced with 'Disc 2', a throwback to the physical media, and it actually truncates information that's useful to the listener, especially if he or she is a musician that's studying the work. If you're trying to transfer a specific movement to a player to study it, the digital identifiers that should be embedded into the tracks are of no help.