All the ingredients are here for an outstanding Vivaldi disc. Emmanuel Pahud is a flute virtuoso who’s made memorable recordings of varied repertoire. He has a bright, full tone and amazing finger and breath control that allow him to play anything he wants without worrying about technical difficulties. The Australian Chamber Orchestra is an accomplished ensemble, last heard in alert accompaniments to Angela Hewitt’s set of Bach concertos. The players use modern instruments, but they’re clearly influenced by period groups in their tempo and phrasing choices. First violinist and director Richard Tognetti is widely admired, and on the home front he has been named an “Australian National Living Treasure”, an accolade I trust does not mean they stash him away in a bank vault every night!
Which brings us to Vivaldi–eight concertos for flute and strings, including the six of Op. 10, among which are three that are popular enough to be saddled with nicknames (La tempesta di mare, La notte, and Il gardellino). The first of them (Op. 10 No. 1) packs a lot of action in its brief duration, giving Pahud opportunities to blow up a storm in the outer movements and for the band to dig deep into their instruments with vibrant attacks and plenty of ocean spray. Those Vivaldi Allegro and Presto movements provide plenty of excitement elsewhere too–for example, the finale of Op. 10 No. 5 rockets out of the gate with tremendous energy.
But the movements I’ve been returning to are the slower ones. The fetching Largo e cantabile that precedes the finale of Op. 10 No. 5 and the lovely Largo of “La notte” touch the heart in ways that flashier excitement doesn’t, no matter how much fun it may be. Nor do the “named” works necessarily imply superiority over their anonymous cousins. I found the most satisfying of this disc’s eight concertos to be the F major Op. 10 No. 5 and the A minor RV 440. The latter’s galant opening, affecting Larghetto, and spirited Finale impress me as the most substantive on the program.
For all the brilliant, virtuosic playing on display, it’s hard not to notice the patches of barren, repetitive moments. The Op. 10 concertos are not among Vivaldi’s very best music, nicknames or no, but they’re certainly worth hearing, even more compelling in such vivacious performances.
