Rare Vivaldi Concerti with the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra and Guest Violinist Federico Guglielmo by Andrew Miller
City Recital Hall, Angel Place, Sydney: 22 February 2012
The program will be performed in Melbourne on 26 February, and again in Sydney from 29 February until 3 March. 29 February's concert to be broadcast live on ABC Classic FM (8 PM)
Vivaldi - Ciaccona form Concerto for Strings in C major RV 114
Vivaldi - Concerto for several instruments in G minor RV 576
Vivaldi - Concerto for several instruments in F major RV 572 Il Proteo o sia il mondo al rovescio
Vivaldi - Concerto for several instruments in D major RV 562a
Vivaldi - Concerto for several instruments in F major RV 574 and RV 571
Vivaldi - Concerto for several instruments in D major RV 564
Vivaldi - Concerto for several instruments in G minor RV 577
The Australian Brandenburg Orchestra
Paul Dyer - artistic director and harpsichord
Federico Guglielmo - guest director and baroque violin
For a long time I was put off Vivaldi by the incessant repetitions of the Four Seasons on the local classical radio station. This was of course unfair, but it can be tricky to find performances of many of his other several hundred pieces (not least in Venice itself), and in fact the frequently encountered way of playing Vivaldi, with a certain edge, a forthright, frenetic sort of energy, which may display the technical virtuosity to maximum effect, is unfair too. Australian Brandenburg Orchestra artistic director and harpsichordist Paul Dyer and guest violinist and director Federico Guglielmo have constructed a program which is remarkably varied — indeed to present a program devoted to a single composer (or an exhibition devoted to a single artist) only really works with and artistic personality capable of a varied outlook lest we become oppressed by the artist's obsessions. Some of these concerti have not been published and clearly the two musicians have put much deep thought and research into their performance. Here is a Vivaldi with subtlety of expression, which also puts to good use all of this orchestra's skill across the instruments without showing off. All the concerti are "for several instruments" with some instruments re-apearing as soloists with a consistent personality and characteristically written parts, but with something quite different to say in each concerto. The program is carefully arranged in a kind of cycle, giving the sense of music taking us on a journey.
Read the full review on the Berkshire Review, an International Journal for the Arts!

