Vivaldi, Concerti per oboe and Vivaldi, Concerti per violino III 'Il ballo'

***** Vivaldi, Concerti per oboe (Naive)
***** Vivaldi, Concerti per violino III 'Il ballo' (Naive, both through Ode Records)


Verdict: "Italian Back-to-Baroquers give Vivaldi a bracing workout."

The French Naive label has lofty ambitions for its Vivaldi Collection, aiming to record all 450 of the composer's works, unpublished in his lifetime, but cherished enough by their creator for him to preserve their scores in his own personal archive.

The latest discs of concertos are but a taste of the 110 violin concertos and 39 oboe concertos that Vivaldi has left us.

As usual, both discs have Naive's chic, slightly offbeat couturier covers by photographer Denis Rouvre; more importantly for the listener, both feature top Italian talents from the Back-to-Baroque stable.

Violinist Duilio Galfetti sets his seven concertos afire with a modern equivalent of a 1717 Stradivarius, ably partnered by I Barocchisti under Diego Fasolis.

There is a compelling sense of the wild to this music. Storms brew left, right and centre and so vivid is the recording that you might find yourself checking the forecast before you go out. When "Allegro molto" is not fast enough for the possessed Vivaldi, he simply asks for "Allegro molto molto".

Needless to say, Galfetti and his musicians put on the sort of performances that would raise temperatures just as much at a Womad event as they would in a more formal setting.

Yet the tender slow movements, sometimes spun over the slightest of harmonic pretexts, melt the heart, especially when played against a backdrop of plucked strings.

The first thing that strikes you about the oboe concertos CD is the vibrant, almost pungent voice of Alfredo Bernadini's instrument, a modern copy of a 1730 model.

Vivaldi is not so determined to deliver fireworks here and draws from a more capacious basket of harmonies; Bernadini has few equals in this music and, alongside him, his Zefiro ensemble is perfectly attuned to its leader, right down to the enlivening strum of Baroque guitar.

Warning: buying these albums could be dangerous to your wallet. You might find yourself desperate to have the previous 40 volumes of the Vivaldi Collection ... and there must be as many still to come.

William Dart