5 movements, (played on modern instruments, but according to conventions of the time and place): Violin/Jean-Claude Feéret, Cembalo/Christine Hartley-Troskie, Bassoon/Mr X
A work dating from the begining of Vivaldi's big production... Some naughty spirits said that Vivaldi wrote 400 times the same concerto, and that is certainly a bit tough: even if his production is uneven, and if some of his works could be qualified of "commercial", there is in it enough master pieces to allow him to be part of the greatest masters of the past.
This sonata is a little gem, even if, most evidently, it was directly inspired by Corelli sonatas having just been published then (1710), but in those days, it certainly was no crime, especially when done with such mastery.
The repeats of the slow movements are ornated with moreless improvised cadences, as it was the custom in those days, and the model for those was in fact an edition from Corelli sonatas, as edited by someone else a year later : "Like il Signor Corelli plays them in concert".
Even the repeats of last movement (n° 5: a gigg) have been ornated, which is less usual, but however possible and admitted (some examples of such came to us), and that was only to finish the work with more "panache" a little sin, very common in Italy in general and for Vivaldi in particular.
That recording had been made (on modern instruments!) as a working controle before an international competition, and, finding it today with only a cembalo as continuo, looked a bit poor, in particular for Italian music which, till Mozart's time, used to emphasize very much the basses ... So, a bass has been added. It could have been a Gamba, or better a cello, but only samples of bassoon sounds were available, and that fits very well too with the habits of the time and place... so, each sound has been cut and polished to fit the original recording otherwise left untouched.
It now really sounds like a proper concert, but I didn't want it to be a fake, and so felt it had to be said...
And after all, the important thing is the result.
For more music and discoveries :
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