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| Italian Violin Concertos | 
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| Creators: Pietro Nardini, Giovanni Battista Viotti, Antonio Vivaldi, Helmut Koch, Robert Kobler, Berlin Chamber Orchestra, Kammerorchester Berlin, Manfred Scherzer
Label: Berlin Classics
Category: Music
List Price: $8.98
Buy New: $4.41
You Save: $4.57 (51%)
New (17) Used (4) from $4.41
Avg. Customer Rating:  1 reviews
Sales Rank: 164267
Media: Audio CD
Discs: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 5.6 x 5 x 0.5
UPC: 782124319526
EAN: 0782124319526
ASIN: B000025P4Q
Release Date: September 26, 2000
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: BRAND NEW Factory Sealed - Ready to be shipped within 24 hrs from California - Average 5 workdays delivery time - Excellent customer service - Buy with confidence!
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| Tracks:
| • | 1. Allegro | | • | 2. Largo | | • | 3. Presto | | • | Movement 1 | | • | Movement 2 | | • | Movement 3 | | • | Moderato | | • | Adagio | | • | Agitato assai |
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| Customer Reviews:
Good Viotti and Nardini, but Hold the Vivaldi October 15, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
The most welcome selection here is the Viotti concerto, the Italian composer's most famous, at least at one time. Even Brahms declared his love for the work, and it's easy to hear why. Among 18th-century Classical concertos, it has no equal that I can think of, especially since the two greatest composers of the era, Mozart and Haydn, wrote no violin concertos in their full maturity. It's a big concerto, with a long (three minutes) orchestral introduction and with big gestures, including parts for trumpets and drums, which add to the dark drama of the first movement. The work seems to start with an air of tragic resignation, but this gives way to more passionate outbursts, especially when the soloist enters, as if the violin represents a questioning, even resistant voice.
Maybe that's putting too romantic a gloss on a concerto written in 1792, but then Scherzer and Koch bring a more romantic sensibility to the work than you might hear in a recording made these days, when so many performers heed the call of period authenticity. I think the more romantic approach has its pluses as well, pointing forward to Beethoven and Spohr, both of whom were directly influenced by Viotti. Incidentally, the last movement rondo includes a catchy jig-like melody for the violin that may pay homage to the British Isles, where the work was written and first performed.
Romanticism has its place in a performance of the Nardini concerto as well because though Nardini wrote during the early Classical period, his "concerto" is actually a compilation of parts of two of his violin sonatas, stitched together and orchestrated by one Emilio Pente in the last part of the 19th century. The recreation is about as faithful to the world of 1770 as Tchaikovsky's "Rococo Variations" is; at least there is a continuo harpsichord in the mix. However authentic (or not) the concerto is, it's lovely sounding, with a yearning slow movement and a sunny last movement whose first melody plays major-key statement off against minor-key echo. The Nardini, too, was once a staple of major violinists, and I know of recordings by Mischa Elman and Pinchas Zuckerman, neither of which is currently available. So it's nice to have the concerto back again, in a very good performance.
I've left the Vivaldi for last because it's the least in more than one way. One of Vivaldi's earlier concerti, it's pretty short to begin with though long on minor-key drama. But Scherzer and Koch play down that drama. Scherzer applies an almost cloying legato to the solo line, and the orchestra, too, plays with a seamlessness bordering on portamento that is more High Romantic than High Baroque. A big, uncalled for ritard at the end of the slow movement is another giveaway. This is really old-school Baroque. Comparing it to, say, Fabio Biondi's performance on Virgin, you could be forgiven for thinking this is a different piece of music entirely. In Biondi's hands, the music is clipped, almost brutally telegraphed, and while I think the real Vivaldi may lie somewhere between these extremes, I believe Biondi has far more of a handle on the Red Priest.
But no matter. The real meat of the recording is the Viotti and Nardini. And these composers the violinist and orchestra play very well, Scherzer bringing a sweet and expressive tone to his solo work. The recording, made way back in the early 70s, is good, with the soloist realistically captured and placed in a realistic perspective vis-a-vis the orchestra, though orchestral detail could be a mite clearer.
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