Vivaldi: Cello Concertos - Jean-Guihen Queyras

Alongside the famous Quattro Stagioni, La Notte, and so on, Vivaldi wrote no fewer than 27 concertos for the cello – an instrument which at the time was generally limited to playing basso continuo. With the genuine virtuosi he had available to him at the Ospedale della Pietà, the Red Priest played a key role in the emancipation of the cello, which so readily inspired him to invent varied figuration. The musicians of the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin have chosen to add highly expressive pieces by Caldara to punctuate the sumptuous feast of sound offered by maestro Queyras.

29th September 2011

*****

“The adage goes that Vivaldi did not so much compose hundreds of concertos as write the same concerto hundreds of times. However, this disc featuring the estimable cellist Jean-Guihen Queyras illustrates the fallacy of that argument. ...Queyras is equal to all Vivaldi’s challenges and intricacies, adopting a buoyant “period” style that is fully matched by the incisive, pungent playing of the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin.”