Concert Italiani: Bach Vivald

This is an astoundingly beautiful disc. The idea is simple, although no one had done it before: record several of the original Venetian concerti that Bach transcribed for his own use, most often for him to play at the keyboard. And then for fun: reconstruct a putative orchestral 'original' for Bach's famous solo harpsichord 'Italian Concerto,' whose original is either lost or possibly never existed; it's possible Bach simply wrote a harpsichord piece in the Italian style and called it 'Italian Concerto'. In the latter case, Rinaldo Alessandrini wrote a violin concerto based on the 'Italian Concerto,' supplying 'missing' orchestral parts. Whatever you think of the idea, it comes off beautifully. Further, Alessandrini's Concerto Italiano (how apt that this group is playing these Italian concerti!) favor us with spectacularly impeccable playing and astounding verve and energy.

There are some especially winning moments in this disc. There is the third movement (Adagio e staccato) of Benedetto Marcello's violin concerto in E minor whose staccato accompaniment limns a countermelody whose chords are played in triplicate thus: ff ppp p. What a striking and effective idea! Then one must mention oboist Andrea Mion's subtlety in Marcello's brother Alessandro's Oboe Concerto in D minor. The whole of Vivaldi's 'La Notte' 'concerto for diverse instruments' in G minor. And, finally, the tasteful reconstruction of Bach's Italian Concerto as a violin concerto, whose superimposed lines of counterpoint add, rather than subtract, from Bach's harpsichord original.

All in all, this is an extraordinarily attractive disc and I recommend it unreservedly.

TT= 63:05

Scott Morrison

A few reviews ago, I slammed a performance of Vivaldi's "Four Seasons" by a violinist I respect very much for his performances of contemporary music, Joshua Bell. I offer this recording, by Concerto Italiano, far better known as a vocal ensemble, of concertos by Vivaldi and his close competitor Benedetto Marcello as a model of stylish, historically informed but not slavishly "authentic", Baroque performance at the highest level. There is also a concerto in the Italian manner by JS Bach on the program, but many listeners will find it puzzling. The piece is in fact an "Italian" concerto orchestrated by Rinaldo Alessandrini, based on Bach's well known harpsichord solo Italian Concerto. The 'justification' is that all the concertos by Marcello and Vivaldi performed here were transcribed by Bach himself for performance on solo harpsichord. Obviously there's a bit of musicological hubris in action on this CD; to my ears, it adds to the fun.

Integration. Coherence. Continuity. Those are the qualities of Alessandrini's interpretations of these concertos that make them convincing as music. Above all, the solo instrument - violin, oboe, flute - is integrated into the orchestra, not at odds with it. the music is truly "concerted." Then, performance decisions - of tempo, of fermatas, of dynamics, etc. - are all coherent with the total affect of the piece; there are no effects determined merely by the fingers or the bow. Last, there is intense continuity through the formal structure of the baroque concerto, through the standardized succession of three movements, with a largo movement in the middle and a rondo movement last. "Dey gotta sound like dey goes togedda," as the great Baroque boxer Rocky the Italian Stallion would say.

There are plenty of good Vivaldi recordings on the market, but Marcello is a neglected master. This is one of only three or four solid performances of his work. It's a CD, I predict, that you'll play often.

The Baroque era? Just a bunch of dead guys' dead music. It was three centuries ago, for example, that Bach transcribed some Venetian violin concertos into works for solo harpsichord. (Big deal.) But what if you reversed the process? What if you turned Bach's harpsichord piece "after the Italian taste" into a violin concerto and restored the lost violin parts of some of Bach's transcriptions? Presto, you'd have some brand-new Baroque music, thematically arranged.

Concerto Italiano and its director, Rinaldo Alessandrini, have done just that -- and created marvels. Listen for the use of staccato and silence in the two slow movements of Benedetto Marcello's second Concerti a cinque; the contrast between the serene Adagio and the festive Presto in his brother Alessandro's exquisite oboe concerto; and the second of Vivaldi's amazingly innovative flute concertos, with its creepy "Night" and hypnotic "Sleep" sections.

In 2003, Gramophone declared that Concerto Italiano's version of Vivaldi's The Four Seasons was the finest ever recorded. The pristine Naive Classique recording of Concerti Italiani will similarly raise your spirits -- along with those of a few dead guys.