While not quite as musically distinguished or as fancifully adorned with the characterful stylistic touches and abundance of memorable tunes we’ve heard on some other releases in Carmignola and Marcon’s series of Vivaldi concertos (both on Archiv and Sony), there’s no shortage of drama and dazzling virtuosity on display in these five concertos, which the producers claim are first recordings. Carmignola never disappoints, and you can be assured that he won’t let you down here in terms of sheer artistry, which includes healthy doses of personality and style.
As I’ve said before in reviews of this violinist’s Vivaldi performances, when he plays you’re never sure how much is Vivaldi and how much is the soloist–there’s so much passion and fire in the execution. But performer and composer seem so compatible, everything seems so right–the quick and furious runs, the gritty spiccato, the blink-of-an-eye ornaments, the beguiling singing in the slow movements, the bowing that sounds absolutely enchanted, flying at impossible speed above and across the strings–that you have to believe that you’ve never really heard Vivaldi before.
Aided and abetted by Andrea Marcon and one of the world’s top Baroque-period orchestras (the precision, energy, and vibrant sound of this ensemble is a marvel all its own), not to mention the clear, you-are-there sonics, Carmignola offers yet another reason to revisit and reconsider this prolific and oft-maligned composer, who at best was a genius, and at other times was nothing less than a consummate master of idiom and technique, especially regarding the violin: no one wrote more outlandish, outrageously challenging, audience-pleasing music for that instrument, and no one is better suited to show off its attributes than Carmignola. [10/11/2006]
