Re: Vivaldi F. XII, n, 38 -- looking for CD
Oh, I know it's been 16 years, but wanted you to know @Mandolino D'Amore that I've loved that exact version for a very long time. Lost my copy in my divorce 18 years ago. Only available on vinyl, but now that I've remembered it (on a baroque plucked instrument binge) I'm going to pick up a good condition used copy from Discogs.com and digitize it myself.
Re: Vivaldi F. XII, n, 38 -- looking for CD
I have the Concerto per viola d'amore, liuto, archi e basso continuo RV540
on a CD (Musica per mandolino e liuto, naïve OP30429) with Rolf Lislevand
on luths, baroque guitar and mandolins
Re: Vivaldi F. XII, n, 38 -- looking for CD
Since this chat has been resurrected, there are a couple additions to my short list of period-instrument favorites that aren't yet listed here (although Il Giardino Armonico's remains my favorite):
—Pietro Prosser, Mario Paladin, and L'Arte dell'Arco (Federico Guglielmo, cond.). 2010. Vivaldi: Mandolin and Lute Concertos. Brilliant Classics, 93810. (Marvelous and including all the mandolin works on period mandolins.)
—Rachel Barton Pine, Hopkinson Smith, and Ars Antigua. 2015. Vivaldi: The Complete Viola d'Amore Concertos. Cedille, CDR 90000 159. (RV 540 is the only plucked-string work on this disc, so perhaps a little too peripheral to this forum.)
Re: Vivaldi F. XII, n, 38 -- looking for CD
Was YouTube around in 2004? In any case, as usual with that venue, you won't lack for a variety of performances of this piece.
Joe
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Re: Vivaldi F. XII, n, 38 -- looking for CD
Has anyone listened to this record? I'm revisiting it after seeing this thread. I can't find much info on the ensemble, but I'm fairly certain they're playing modern instruments.
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Re: Vivaldi F. XII, n, 38 -- looking for CD
Definitely modern instruments. In their videos they are using modern bows, metal-wrapped strings, chin rests, shoulder rests, lots of vibrato, etc. The sound is also modern. They seem to have been founded in 1959, which was before the idea of historically informed performance was widespread, and it looks like they never climbed on that bandwagon.
Re: Vivaldi F. XII, n, 38 -- looking for CD
Of course, Musical Heritage Society's specialty was repackaging existing recordings for their own label, directly marketed to semi-gullible "members" (and I was one in the late '80s–early '90s).
I Solisti Veneti under Scimone was a modern-instrument chamber orchestra that originally recorded for Erato Records (the label was subsequently gobbled up by the Warner conglomerate). They seemed to be really prolific on that label in the 1980s. (If you're curious about the industry context that gave rise to the chamber orchestra this video about Vivaldi's "Four Seasons" is a nice overview, the discussion of chamber orchestras beginning at 2:57. Note that I Solisti Veneti is not one of the ensembles discussed; this is only for context.)
A number of I Solisti Veneti recordings have come and gone from my own shelves. Several remain, but oddly, none that I've kept discusses the ensemble or its history in the liner notes. I do have a recording they made of the Vivaldi mandolin works, but the one with Orlandi and Frati as soloists. My own impression of Scimone's direction is of uniform consistency: always precise and disciplined, but frankly, they sometimes seem too mechanical in tempo and dynamic for my personal tastes, too dully "square." Of the recordings with which I'm familiar, these negatives were most evident to me in their 1985 recording of Tartini violin concerti.