Vivaldi's formost exponent with a stunning display
Mike Birman | Brooklyn, New York USA | 11/08/2007
(5 out of 5 stars)
"My recent forays into gamba playing, fresh in mind, have provided a healthy respect for producing clear intonation. The gamba is played on or between the knees. The viola da braccio is played on the arm. This viola da braccio acquired its name viola d'amore because of its nocturnal nature; its delicate, enigmatic, sensual sound giving it a mysterious character with a distinctive timbre. Its sonic qualities are due to its often being tuned to the principal notes of the tonic chord. Guitar players know this as open tuning, and often use its propensity for harmonic resonance during performance to provide an additional fullness to the sound. These frequent harmonics in the viola d'amore usually produce a soft sound with a pinched, nasal quality and are very suggestive of eastern instruments like the sarod or sitar. This is heightened by the addition, from the end of the 17th Century, of metal strings under the fingerboard. Their resonance, caused by the vibrations of the played strings, form a sonic field on the bottom that imparts a rhythmic chug or characteristic antiphonal quality which the soloist can use to great effect. In addition, the instrument's flat back forces the sound forward, making it softer and pinching it into the treble. In Vivaldi's day he would have used 6 principal strings and 6 sympathetic strings.
Biondi uses a similarly constructed viola d'amore, attributed to Giovanni Grancino (1675-1730), built in Milan in the first half of the 18th Century. He conducts his Europa Galante in the first concerted works produced for the instrument. There is an inevitable simularity between these concertos, given the nature of their construction, which is the typical Vivaldian fast-slow-fast, and the slightly reticent nature of the viola d'amore. Part of the challenge in performing these pieces is varying the phrasing sufficiently to overcome any hint of boredom, but never moving beyond the written score or the capabilities of the solo instrument. How Biondi manages this feat is part of the fun of listening to these splendid performances. Most of the orchestration is confined to strings. However, the Concerto in F major RV 97 has a hunting theme, complete with horns and winds, that produces a mini-drama in sound. The last concerto on this disc, the Concerto for viola d'amore and lute RV 540, inhabits its own sound world, fascinated by the conversation between differently configured string instruments. All of the concertos are beautifully recorded. The sound is warm, rich and full. Biondi and orchestra play splendidly. There is the usual Italianate authenticity in the warm and sunny sonority they produce in these lovely pieces.
Another exemplary recording from the world's leading exponent of the Italian Baroque. The viola d'amore is a fascinating instrument, and it is especially well played and recorded here. Strongly recommended.
Mike Birman"
Biondi vincit amorem; viola vincit nos
Giordano Bruno | Wherever I am, I am. | 11/15/2007
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Finally! A recording of the viola d'amore that sounds like something more unique than a violin played oddly! Well, actually there's one other excellent performance, by Affetti Musicali, but this disk of Vivaldi's seven concerti for viola d'amore features the virtuosity of Fabio Biondi, who plays the instrument as if it were one he learned as a boy at Vivaldi's own knee. In fact, if Biondi never played anything but the viola d'amore, he'd still be one of the greatest fiddlers of our epoch. He knows exactly how much timbre he can extract from his resonating wood. He finds his way from the deepest clarinet-like tones of the instrument to the dog-whistle overtones of the sympathetic strings. And he gets around on the awkward oversized thing! But he also knows the limits of the instrument's dynamics, and he realizes that a trill or a touch of vibrato which might serve on the violin would muddy the color of his viola d'amore. Biondi is more than a fiddler; he's the avatar of the fiddle-god himself.
These concerti are more than oddities in Vivaldi's canon. Compositionally they rank with his best. The concerto for lute and viola d'amore is one of his last works, and one of his subtlest.
I owe this stupendous CD to Mike Birman, who reviewed it first. Mike does an excellent job of describing what makes a viola d'amore different from an ordinary viola. Be sure to read his review also."
Favorite Classical Release of 2007
D. Mahoney | Troy, NY | 12/12/2007
(5 out of 5 stars)
"I discovered these concertos earlier this year by way of another recording (Claudio Scimone on Erato) and fell in love with them. I also became a big Biondi fan this year, so it seemed like kismet when he released his own recording of these concertos, along with the great Concerto for viola d'amore and lute in D minor--the last selection on this disc.
Everything about this recording's excellent, from the too-neglected works themselves, to the gorgeous quality of sound, to the vivid performances by Biondi and Europa Galante. And one of the earlier reviewers is right: Biondi plumbs the depths of the viola d'amore like I haven't heard elsewhere, bringing out of the instrument's richest, duskiest colors.
Biondi/EG's other Vivaldi recordings are astonishing, too. I can't recommend this recording enough."
A boldly modern reading of bizarre baroque masterpieces
Anton Zimmerling | Moscow, Russia | 10/02/2008
(5 out of 5 stars)
"This CD with six solo concertos for viola d'amore by Vivaldi (RV 392-397) is one of the greatest achievements of Fabio Biondi - both as a soloist and a conductor.
I bought it with some reservations, since I had no idea whether Fabio Biondi is a champion of viola d'amore and whether these concertos are really good music. So I bought it merely as an addition to a number of other CDs with Fabio Biondi (the `Improvisata' and other items with Europa Galante). Now I am convinced that this CD is a gem and the six survived Vivaldi's concertos for his favourite instrument are great music, especially in Fabio Biondi's rendering which provokes allusions to music of later epochs.
Although Europa Galante play period instruments, Fabio Biondi definitely does not belong to those authentic baroque performers who pretend they have forgotten all later music and advise their listeners to do the same as soon as possible. On the contrary, Biondi's approach to music structure and the accents he makes in Vivaldi's music and elsewhere systematically revive associations with music of 19th and 20th centuries. I understand that such an approach irritates those who idolize HIP performances, but on this CD it works. The point made by a critical listener - that Biondi's slow tempi display his technical problems and inability to play this music in a different way - is not to be taken seriously. For the first, Biondi's technical prowess as a soloist is heard on many tracks - try e.g. the virtuosic cadence from the final movement RV 393 (track 12, around 2'00''-2'33'') which is difficult to play on a violin, let alone on a long six-string monster with six additional metal strings under the fingerboard. For the second, Biondi's tempi are apparently motivated by musical considerations and by not a wish to push himself on the foreground. For the third, the tempi on this CD are not slow at all: they are rather on the fast side, with a rigid contrast of fast outer movements and slow middle movements.
Since all other reviewers concentrated on Biondi's solo playing, I'll concentrate on Biondi as conductor and on the music itself. Recollecting the timbre of viola'd amore and its relatively small sound, one could imagine that Vivaldi's concertos for this instrument are sweet small-scale pieces. Not by a damn sight. The six concerts RV392-397 written by Vivaldi in his late years (1720-1730s) are serious, at times tragic or furious music, with a dramatic contrast of menacing tutti and nervous responses from solo viola. Biondi's chamber orchestra is small, but the viola d' amore is too weak to be tuned sharp against even such a small group, so the proportion between the orchestra and the soloist is nearly the same as in classical violin or piano concertos. The orchestral part is very elaborated, with rhythmically strong ritornelli - sometimes based on courtly dances, but usually on folk dances with a marked syncopated rhythm. The very first track (Allegro from RV 394 d-moll) proves the composer was not in the mood for any jokes: the initial ritornello based on a gloomy fugato line lasts around 40 seconds. The middle movements are very intense, too and don't resemble genre pictures either.
Viola d'amore got old-fashioned even in Vivaldi's day and he was probably one of the last virtuosos on this instrument (not to count Biondi...). It is therefore amazing to hear the links between these less-known concertos, at the one side and well-known music of 19th and 20th centuries, at the other side. All the six solo concertos are enthralling, but two of them are real masterpieces - RV 392 D-dur and RV 393 d-moll. The first movement of RV 392 (track 7) is almost symphonic in its design - with very a bright and powerful theme in D-dur which is in the beginning shared by the soloist. Then the music abruptly glides into equally powerful episodes in minor - the first such episode is located between 1'45'' and 2'09''. It sounds very Haydnesque - not as early Haydn, but as late Haydn who was able to compose movements like Allegretto from his Military Symphony. The slow movement of this concerto (track 8) is even more striking: it is a desperate lament expressed by minimalistic means - the soloist is at first accompanied only by the violins. The initial figure of this extremely grave piece of music - a short ascending motif followed by long descending passages - has an astonishing affinity with the beginning of an equally grave slow movement - the second movement of Shostakovich's 5th quartet! I am not claiming that Biondi has stylized RV 392 in the spirit of Shostakovich (I don't know). Neither am I claiming that Shostakovich knew Vivaldi's concert RV 392 (it is unlikely). I simply state that Biondi's interpretation makes the affinity of these two great pieces evident. Another jewel of the collection is concerto RV 393 d-moll - possibly the darkest music on this CD. Its two movements are excellent music, but the final movement (track 12), a furious presto with aggressive rushing figurations over an organ point, is simply unbelievable: to my ear it sounds like Alberto Ginastera or as hard rock of the XVIII century! I have already mentioned that this movement has a highly virtuosic cadence. Other concertos have highly individual features, too. Especially showy is RV 397 a-moll: its first movement (track 16) opens with an unusual quick dance in triple time. The next movement, a slow march with its marked dotted rhythm (track 17) strangely reminds of two big hits of Romantic music - the final movement of Beethoven's quartet No. 14 cis-moll and Rigoletto's "La-la-la-lera" (the scene before `Cortigiani, vil razza dannata"). I am not kidding: I don't think Biondi unjustly modernized Vivaldi, I am sure that Vivaldi passed ahead of his time in these concertos for viola d'amore. And I think that Biondi has right when he emphasizes this fact: anyway, it is a great pleasure to follow a great artist in his voyage between music of different epochs.
The liner notes state that viola d'amore was usually tuned to the principal notes of the tonic. It is hardly a coincidence that five from eight concertos on this CD are written in d/D. Two are written in A/a, the remaining one (RV 97) is in F. The last piece is an amiable concerto da camera which includes music for the woodwinds and horns: viola d'amore is just of the many timbres here.
It would be unfair to look for faults and flaws on this excellent CD. The relatively weakest performance is that of double's concerto for viola d'amore and lute d-moll RV 540. I am not a huge fan of Giardino Armonico, but I must state that they play it better Vivaldi - Concerti per Liuto e Mandolino / Il Giardino Armonico. This double concerto differs from six solo concertos in being a quiet, recessed and a non-virtuosic piece. Biondi attempts at playing it dramatically, but the music loses from it and gets a bit noisy. Biondi does not play weaker than Giardino's Enrico Onofri, but archlute player Luca Pianca is superior to Biondi's companion Giangiacomo Pinardi, at least here. However, the music is so good that you can easily enjoy Biondi's version, especially if you do not compare it with other versions.
Don't miss this CD if you love great music and great performances!
Track Listings (24) - Disc #1