NOUVEAU SOUFFLE | VINYL RECORD (LP)

This first collaboration between the naïve label and Les Musiciens du Prince-Monaco, the ensemble founded in 2016 by mezzo-soprano Cecilia Bartoli and Jean-Louis Grinda (then director of the Opéra de Monte-Carlo), marks the 75th volume of the Vivaldi Edition. It explores the realm of the concerti per vari strumenti ("for various instruments"), more than twenty years after the first volume devoted to the genre, which was conceived together with the Freiburger Barockorchester and Gottfried von der Goltz (Vol. 7, Concerti di Dresda, 2003, OP 30283). In this part of his vast catalogue, Vivaldi reveals a constant spirit of invention and an unfailing gift for the artful pairing of instrumental timbres. His extraordinary sensitivity to timbre and the expressive dimension he imparts to each instrumental colour may be explained both by the various positions he held at the Ospedale della Pietà between 1703 and 1740-violin master, composer, etc.-where he worked with musicians capable of playing a wide variety of instruments, and by the connections he cultivated for about a decade, beginning in 1716, with the court chapel in Dresden, a veritable haven for some of the most outstanding virtuosi in early 18th-century Europe. The present selection of six concertos perfectly reflects the endless range of combinations favoured by Vivaldi. The Concerto in C major, RV 557 (for two violins, two oboes, two recorders, bassoon, strings, and continuo), recalls works by Heinichen in Dresden, as does the Concerto con molti istromenti, RV 555, whose broad and varied scoring-combining winds (two recorders, chalumeau), bowed strings (including two violas da gamba, and sometimes plucked), and harpsichords-bears even more direct witness to a genre that was highly fashionable in Saxony during the 1720s and 1730s. By contrast, the Concerto in B-flat major, RV 553, features four obbligato violins that often dialogue in pairs; notwithstanding it's brilliant character, it's structure recalls the concerto grosso, while it's gentle expressiveness calls to mind the concerto da camera. As for the Concertos RV 535 and RV 543, they give pride of place to the oboe-paired with a second oboe in the former and violin in the latter. The natural shifts in texture lead Vivaldi to explore a variety of approaches in matters of nuance and instrumental balance. Throughout this recording, notable for it's exquisitely delicate balances (Concerto RV 570, Presto) and an incredibly refined palette of colours (Concerto RV 555, Largo a piacimento, or Concerto RV 543, Minuetto), Les Musiciens du Prince-Monaco display an unruffled elegance. Guided by the ensemble's musical director, the Milanese Gianluca Capuano, tempi feel perfectly judged and natural and lines are clearly drawn. Forty-seven minutes imbued with an utterly springlike exuberance.