Catalogue

Summary:

“Chandler’s playing is crisply articulated, tonally secure and imaginative, and the lively responses of the instrumentalists of La Serenissima give uninterrupted pleasure. These are musicians who quite simply love their Vivaldi and their spirit is contagious” ★★★★★ – BBC Music Magazine

“In three contemporary violin concertos, Chandler juxtaposes acrobatics and refinement…The three contrasting 1716-17 arias are performed flawlessly: Argene’s brief yet furious ‘Ferri, ceppi, sangue, morte’ shows off Sally Bruce-Payne’s pinpoint division” – Gramophone

“These discriminating performances, with La Serenissima on characteristically lucid, lively form…and make for a Vivaldi disc of particularly ear-catching impact”★★★★ – The Daily Telegraph

“Comparing the years 1717 and 1733, the disc sets out to dispel the adage that Vivaldi wrote the same concerto 400 times…Using period instruments, La Serenissima give highly effective performances, Chandler’s fingers and bow flying around his instrument with the same dexterity and impeccable intonation as that shown by the silvery voice of Sally Bruce-Payne. Excellent and well-balanced sound; strongly recommended” – Early Music Today

Vivaldi specialists Adrian Chandler’s and La Serenissima’s hallmark qualities of erudition combined with crowd-pleasing performances have made them one of the best-selling and acclaimed period-instrument bands performing today. Recently their Gramophone Award-winning album Vivaldi: The French Connection (AV 2178) topped a Forbes list of How to Build a Top Quality Classical Music Library. Their last release, Venice by Night (AV 2257) made the Top Ten of the UK Specialist Classical Chart. Their 11^th release for Avie, Vivaldi: A Tale of Two Seasons once again presents the Red Priest in an engaging and fascinating light. Focusing on two Venetian operatic seasons of 1717 and 1733, the enlightening program juxtaposes the work of an eager young man with that of an older, more cunning composer who had adapted his music to that of the fashionable Neapolitan style.

Tracklist:

ANTONIO VIVALDI (1678–1741)

I: 1717

Sinfonia to L’Incoronazione di Dario for strings & continuo, RV 700 (5.35)
1. Allegro (2.31)
2. Andante pianissimo (2.23)
3. Presto (0.41)

Arias from Arsilda and L’Incoronazione di Dario for mezzo-soprano, strings & continuo (12.49)
4. Io sento in questo seno from Arsilda (RV 700) (2.20)
5. Ferri, ceppi, sangue, morte from L’Incoronazione di Dario (RV 719) (5.12)
6. Sentirò fra ramo from L’Incoronazione di Dario (RV 719) (5.17)

Concerto Il Grosso Mogul for violin, strings & continuo, RV 208 (16.12)
7. Allegro (5.44)
8. Grave – Recitativo (2.45)
9. Allegro (7.43)

II: 1733

Concerto for violin, strings & continuo in B flat, RV 367 (13.55)
10. Allegro mà poco poco (5.50)
11. Andante mà poco (3.30)
12. Allegro (4.35)

Arias from Motezuma (RV 723) for mezzo-soprano, strings & continuo (12.17)
13. Quel rossor ch’in volto miri (7.20)
14. In mezzo alla procella (4.57)

Concerto for violin, strings & continuo in C, RV 191 (14.18)
15. Allegro mà poco (5.30)
16. Largo (3.42)
17. Allegro mà poco (5.06)

Total Duration: 76.18

Sally Bruce-Payne, mezzo-soprano
Adrian Chandler, violin/director
La Serenissima

Recorded March 2013, at the Hospital of St. Cross, Winchester
Producer: Simon Fox-Gál