95043 vivaldi bl2 v6 by Klassiek.nl

Antonio Vivaldi 1678–1741 13 14 15 16

La Stravaganza Op.4 12 Concerti Consacrati a Sua Eccellenza il Sig.Vettor Delfino Nobile Veneto (Amsterdam, 1716) for violin, strings and basso continuo Compact Disc 1

Concerto No.2 in E minor RV279 17 I. Allegro 18 II. Largo 19 III. Allegro

2’14 1’58 1’38 1’55

4’08 2’12 3’01

1 2 3

Concerto No.1 in B flat RV383a I. Allegro II. Largo e cantabile III. Allegro

2’56 3’04 2’23

4 5 6

Concerto No.11 in D RV204 I. Allegro II. Largo III. Allegro assai

2’34 1’36 1’47

1 2 3

Concerto No.12 in G RV298 I. Spiritoso e non presto II. Largo III. Allegro

2’29 3’15 3’25

7 8 9

Concerto No.9 in F RV284 I. Allegro II. Largo III. Allegro

2’37 2’06 2’06

4 5 6

Concerto No.8 in D minor RV249 I. Allegro II. Adagio – Presto – Adagio III. Allegro

2’34 1’23 3’22

2’52 2’16 2’39

7 8 9

Concerto No.5 in A RV347 I. Allegro II. Largo III. Allegro

3’24 2’07 3’12

Concerto No.4 in A minor RV357 10 I. Allegro 11 II. Grave e sempre piano 12 III. Allegro

46’22

Concerto No.7 in C RV185 I. Largo II. Allegro III. Largo IV. Allegro

Compact Disc 2

50’19

Vivaldi: La Stravaganza

Concerto No.10 in C minor RV196 10 I. Spiritoso 11 II. Adagio 12 III. Allegro

2’49 2’08 2’51

Concerto No.6 in G minor RV316a 13 I. Allegro 14 II. Largo 15 III. Allegro

2’28 2’42 3’33

Concerto No.3 in G RV301 16 I. Allegro 17 II. Largo 18 III. Allegro

2’45 2’30 3’03

Federico Guglielmo solo violin & concertmaster L’Arte dell’Arco on original instruments CD1 Esther Crazzolara (concertino: Nos. 1, 9 & 11), Alessia Pazzaglia (ripieno) violin I Isabella Bison (concertino: Nos. 1, 4 & 7), Mauro Massa, Andrea Vassalle (ripieno) violin II Olga Arzilli viola · Luigi Puxeddu cello · Mauro Zavagno violone/double bass Davide Pozzi harpsichord/chamber organ · Luca Marconato theorbo/Baroque guitar CD2 Rossella Croce violin I · Mauro Massa violin II Enrico Balboni viola · Jorge Alberto Guerrero cello Mauro Zavagno violone/double bass Roberto Loreggian harpsichord/chamber organ Diego Cantalupi theorbo/Baroque guitar 4

La Stravaganza Op.4 consists of works that can be considered the first true examples of the genre associated with Vivaldi: that of the concerto for solo violin. However, they also appear to be considerably more traditional and conventional than those of the previous collection, L’Estro Armonico Op.3. With the exception of Concerto No.7, and to some extent of Concerto No.8, all the works that make up Op.4 are in the well-established three-part form (fast–slow–fast) that was unfailingly adopted by various composers, from Torelli to Albinoni. Despite its distinctly less ‘extravagant’ name, L’Estro Armonico, which was published in 1711 and thus predated Op.4 by four or five years, comes across as considerably more experimental, both in the structure of the pieces and in the composition of the ensemble. As Michael Talbot has observed, what is new about Op.4 is not so much the form as the style. A certain taste for what was curious, strange and unconventional had already made its presence felt within the Baroque literary sphere, and indeed in the figurative arts in general, as well as in chamber vocal music. Moreover, the word stravagante, or ‘extravagant’, had also appeared in relation to music: suffice to recall Trabaci’s Consonanze stravaganti or Carlo Farina’s Capriccio stravagante (1627). In his Op.4 Vivaldi sought to express beauty by means of what was ‘strange’, largely through the way he handled modulation and in the subtlety of melody. It was particularly in this work that he focused his interest in modulation on a wide range of fifths, going beyond the range of neighbouring keys that were used by other composers of the period to involve, for example, first the flat notes and then the sharps. Of special interest in this collection is the second movement of Concerto No.7, where the lower D sharp is boldly transformed into an E flat by means of enharmonic modulation. A brilliant feature of Vivaldi’s handling of melodic ‘extravagance’ is the frequent use of the diminished third, the augmented second and the reiteration of certain distinctly unusual intervals. While there is also plenty of conventional composition in these works, it is clear that the composer deliberately chose to introduce extraordinary elements throughout the collection. It could well be that many of these concertos were actually composed in the period that preceded the publication of L’Estro Armonico. Vivaldi himself suggests this in the preface to Op.3, where he tells his audience of dilettanti di musica, or amateur musicians, that a collection of ‘concertos for four instruments’ will soon be available. Given the inherent difficulties in performing L’Estro Armonico, he was evidently anxious to reassure them by announcing the imminent publication of

concertos written for the smallest possible ensemble. It is thus certain that some of the concertos existed in an earlier form, and were then adjusted or updated according to requirements. As is often the case with printed collections, Vivaldi unfortunately does not seem to have kept copies of the original manuscripts handed over to the printers. Clearly this has hindered modern scholars in their efforts to pin down the precise chronology of the works. At all events, there is no doubt that La Stravaganza cannot have been published, as Rudolf Rasch has argued, before the end of 1715 or the beginning of 1716, since this was the date given in an advertisement launched by the publisher Estienne Roger’s London agent. Despite the somewhat covert soli di concertino in the two violin parts, the ideal ensemble for the Stravaganza was closer to the model of three violin parts established by Albinoni than it was to the form common in Rome, especially with Corelli and Valentini. Yet Concerto No.7 actually seems to be closer to the Corelli model, both as regards form and on account of the concertino entrusted to the two violins and the cello. For this reason we decided to devote CD1 to the works that focus on the ensemble and CD2 to pieces that are more like solo works in the chamber tradition. Vettor Delfino (1687–1735), to whom the collection was dedicated, was a young Venetian nobleman renowned for his skill in card games, especially those that earned him a considerable fortune. Delfino’s father was a well-known librettist connected to the Hanover court, and clearly his son was also something of a musician, since Vivaldi addresses him as ‘more of a study companion than a master’ in his somewhat cryptic dedication. The collection probably did not meet with the same degree of success as L’Estro Armonico, a situation that has not substantially changed in modern times. Yet at the time it was widely distributed and followed by a number of reprints, including an edition of a selection of the concertos, the best known of which was published by Walsh in London. The edition of Il Pastor Fido published in Paris in 1737 as Vivaldi’s Op.13 was in fact an impersonation by Nicolas Chédeville and Jean-Noël Marchand. Despite their spurious nature, these works included two themes from Op.4, borrowed from Concertos Nos. 6 and 7, which clearly speaks for the acclaim the original works had enjoyed. 훿 Federico Guglielmo Translation: Kate Singleton

The Paduan violinist Federico Guglielmo is acclaimed by international critics for his ‘extraordinary versatility’ and ‘mature interpretive confidence’, views that are further confirmed by the appreciation garnered for his live performances and the prizes he has won for his numerous recordings. Winner of the Antonio Vivaldi International Recording Prize, he was hailed as ‘the new star of the ancient music landscape’ by the Boston Globe, while the French music magazine Diapason, which awarded him the Diapason d’Or for his recording of Vivaldi concertos, praised his ‘sparkling virtuosity which provides a cross section of everything of which the violin is capable’. His ‘brilliant and entertaining’ interpretation of Haydn’s Violin Concertos led the American critic Robert Maxham to write in Fanfare that ‘between Isaac Stern’s energetic approach to these works, those of celebrated Mozart interpreters like Szymon Goldberg and Arthur Grumiaux and the insightful explorations of Christian Tetzlaff seem like halfway houses on the journey to Guglielmo’s more full-blown re-creations. Those who admire Haydn’s concertos should be among the first to rush to acquire these performances, but everyone should join that rush sooner or later.’ Guglielmo’s international career began at just 22 when he won first prize in the Vittorio Gui Chamber Music competition in Florence; the same year, having won the national competition for teaching posts, he became the youngest professor of strings at an Italian conservatory, a post he still holds at the ‘Luigi Cherubini’ Conservatoire in Florence. As both a Baroque and Classical violin soloist and as a conductor he is regularly invited to perform by major ensembles worldwide. He led the renowned Academy of Ancient Music on tour in England, and was subsequently invited by groups such as The Handel & Haydn Society of

Boston and the Tokyo Chamber Orchestra; his debut in Sydney with the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra was a sensational success, with his performances watched by over 10,000 spectators and recorded by ABC. The Daily Telegraph reported that ‘his ability to move from playing to conducting reminded us of the virtuosic players of the Baroque such as Vivaldi’, while the Sydney Morning Herald described his ‘superb technical ability demonstrated in the stratospheric passages at the very top of the fingerboard’. In 1994, together with his father, he formed the period instrument ensemble L’Arte dell’Arco, with whom he has performed in major European festivals and recorded more than 75 CDs for Deutsche Harmonia Mundi, Sony/BMG Classical, Chandos, CPO, Stradivarius, ASV Gaudeamus and Rai Trade. 2011 saw the publication of the final volume of the complete 30-CD set of Tartini’s 125 violin concertos for Dynamic, and the first volume of the new Vivaldi project (19 CDs of all his published works) for Brilliant Classics. Federico Guglielmo collaborates with musicians such as Bob van Asperen, Emma Kirkby, Monica Huggett and Dan Laurin. He has performed Bach’s violin concertos with conductor Gustav Leonhardt, Beethoven’s Violin Concerto with the Gran Canaria Philharmonic, conducted by Christopher Hogwood, and Franz Clements’s Violin Concerto with Reinhard Goebel (first European performance in modern times). He has taught Baroque violin in Italy, Brazil and Japan and for the New South Wales Conservatory in Australia. In addition to his solo work, Federico Guglielmo also has a great passion for chamber music. He is a member of the Stradivari Trio, which he founded in 1992, and he has played with musicians such as Pieter Wispelwey, Mario Brunello, Kathleen Battle, Hansjörg Schellenberger, Wolfram Christ and Michala Petri. Chamber music recordings include Brahms Piano Trios (Dynamic), Mozart Piano Trios (CPO), named as CD of the month by the German magazine Fono Forum, and Grieg Violin Sonatas (Decca). Federico Guglielmo was born in Padua in 1968. He obtained his diploma from the ‘B. Marcello’ Conservatory in Venice and then attended violin masterclasses with Salvatore Accardo, Vladimir Spivakov and Isaac Stern, chamber music masterclasses with the Beaux Arts Trio, the Trieste Trio, the Amadeus Quartet, the Quartetto Italiano and the LaSalle Quartet, and an orchestral conducting masterclass with Gianluigi Gelmetti. While still very young he was concertmaster for the principal Italian symphonic orchestras for ten years – a role he is still happy to perform occasionally today with the Orchestra di Padova e del Veneto. He has also won several prizes in national

(Vittorio Veneto) and international (Paris, London, Canada) competitions; since then he has regularly performed at the main concert halls such as the Großer Musikvereinsaal in Vienna, Wigmore Hall in London, Società del Quartetto in Milan, Accademia Santa Cecilia in Rome, Auditorio Nacional in Madrid, Herkulesaal in Munich, Isaac Stern Auditorium at Carnegie Hall in New York, Suntory Hall, Opera City and Bunka Kaikan in Tokyo, Izumi and Symphony Hall in Osaka, Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires and the City Recital Hall in Sydney. In his role as principal violin and leader of the string ensemble I Solisti Filarmonici Italiani, he has led concert tours every two years in Japan and the US since 1990, and has made more than 35 recordings for Denon Nippon Columbia. In the last few years he has concentrated more on conducting, including opera. He conducted the world premiere of Piccinni’s Il finto turco at the Teatro Olimpico in Vicenza (live broadcast by Rai Radio 3) and the first performance in modern times of Vivaldi’s Ottone in villa (recorded by Brilliant Classics); he was also responsible for the reworking of Domenico Scarlatti’s La Dirindina for MiTo/Settembre Musica. The CD of Handel’s Water Music (CPO) that he conducted was awarded ‘First Choice’ on BBC Radio 3’s Building a Library and was chosen as one of Gramophone’s ‘Recommended Recordings’ for its ‘splendid playing, involving and vibrant’. About the instrument While it is true that the success of a recording largely depends on the individual musician’s ability to interpret and express a given composer’s intent and meaning, in this particular case the intrinsic nature of the instrument involved is also of the utmost significance. Thanks to a generous loan on the part of an expert private collector, for this project Federico Guglielmo was able to play a magnificent violin made by Tommaso Balestrieri. Built in Mantua around 1760, it is an instrument of great refinement and exquisite sound, as all those who listen to the recording will immediately appreciate. Little is actually known about the history of this violin, and less still about Tommaso Balestreri, despite the fact that he was one of the foremost exponents of the Mantuan school. While the exact date and place of his birth remain uncertain, however, we do know for sure that he studied with Camillo Camilli, who in his turn had been a pupil of Pietro Guarneri and possibly even of the great Antonio Stradivari. Little wonder, then, that Balestrieri should have chosen to sign all his instruments with the inscription cremonensis, an epithet well suited to his own particular elegance, for all its marked individuality. Indeed, with respect to those particular masters, Balestrieri favoured a less

pronounced backplate and soundboard, and also preferred thinly applied varnishes that were lighter, more luminous and transparent, achieving a distinctive projection of sound by means of the use of different thicknesses. The extraordinary nature of the instrument thus lies in its unique character and strong personality. Guglielmo himself has described it as ‘not entirely easy, because taming its various changes of mood requires personality. Yet it is endowed with such luminous sound that the player readily forgives it for its vagaries’. The essentially technical features of the violin are also worthy of note, because they reflect the original Baroque conception of the instrument, with the period neck and fingerboard. The uniqueness of the instrument is further enhanced by the particular nature of the bow that has always accompanied it. The work of Carlo Annibale Tononi, the Bolognese luthier, it is a gorgeous Baroque bow made of Pernambuco (Brazilwood) with a bone tension screw and a boxwood frog. The original case, dating back to the 18th century, fits into its own coach box embellished with the coat of arms and the initials of the Colonna family of Rome, the original owners, and decorated with period paintings. The set was also furnished with candlesticks for illuminating the score, and a music stand, as well as an 18th-century manuscript copy of Bartolomeo Campagnoli’s violin method. The beauty and history of an extraordinary instrument have thus come down to us intact. Moreover, to help Federico Guglielmo interpret the work as fully as possible, these original acoustical features have been further enhanced by means of technical adjustments introduced by master luthier Giovanni Lazzaro, the technical partner in the overall project who also handled negotiations for the loan of the instrument. 훿 Giovanni Lazzaro

Established in 1994, L’Arte dell’Arco has achieved international recognition for its concerts and recordings. The ensemble, based in Padua, consists of some of the best Italian musicians, all of whom have specialised in period instrument performance with the most important European Baroque orchestras. The composition of the group varies from a small string ensemble to a full orchestra. Depending on the demands of each programme, L’Arte dell’Arco can consist of anything from 3 to 30 musicians so that it can devote itself to a wide repertoire and continue to search for and re-evaluate forgotten works. L’Arte dell’Arco is regularly invited to many important early music festivals and historic cultural venues. Its musicians perform today in all the famous European concert halls as well as in North and South America, Japan and the Far East. The group has performed with acclaimed artists such as Christopher Hogwood (who was the group’s guest conductor from 1997), Gustav Leonhardt and Pieter Wispelwey. Although the orchestra still invites guest conductors and soloists for some performances each year, its artistic director/concertmaster, Federico Guglielmo, has given it a very definite image. L’Arte dell’Arco has been particularly prolific in the recording studios, releasing CDs on the labels Deutsche Harmonia Mundi, Sony/BMG Classics, Chandos, Brilliant Classics, ASV, CPO, Stradivarius, Dynamic, RAI Trade and Musicaimmagine, all featuring works from the Italian Baroque repertoire. Since the release of its first recording, L’Arte dell’Arco has received prizes such as at the Premio Internazionale del Disco Antonio Vivaldi in Venice (1995, 1996), as well as critical acclaim from specialist classical music magazines (Diapason, Le Monde de la Musique, Repertoire, Gramophone, Classic CD, BBC Music Magazine, International Record Review, The Strad, Fanfare, American Record Guide, Fono Forum, Klassik Heute, Alte Musik Aktuell, Luister, Scherzo, Ritmo, The Record Gejiutsu etc.) and the international press (The Times, the Daily Telegraph, the Irish Times etc.). The Italian music magazines Amadeus, CD Classics, Orfeo and Classic Voice have featured L’Arte dell’Arco on their covers, with articles about unpublished recordings and interviews with Federico Guglielmo. In 1996 L’Arte dell’Arco embarked upon one of the most ambitious recording projects of the last decades: the complete recording of all Tartini’s concertos. The volumes were released on the Dynamic label to overwhelming international acclaim. Recording: 2–4 July 2014, Abbazia di S. Maria di Carceri, Padua, Italy (CD1); 23–25 July 2014, Chiesa di S. Maria in Vanzo, Padua, Italy (CD2) Producer, recording engineer & editor: Matteo Costa & Gabriele Robotti (CD1); Fabio Framba (CD2)  2014 & 훿 2015 Brilliant Classics