Vivaldi wrote hundreds of violin concertos, yet even this tiny sample of six, written during the composer’s visit to Prague between 1730 and 1731, demonstrates in every movement his genius of harmonic and dramatic surprise. Each concerto is startlingly original, from the opening movement of the E Minor RV 278 that pits daring solo passages against a hypnotic, pulsing orchestra, while the same concerto’s Largo even feels modern in its angularity. A more familiar Vivaldi can be heard in the C Major RV 186, with its Italianate innocence and winsome middle Largo. But whatever the composer’s mood, Fabio Biondi and Europa Galante thrill to his ingenuity at every step.
- Alessandro Tampieri, Accademia Bizantina & Ottavio Dantone
- Amandine Beyer, Gli Incogniti & Marco Ceccato
- Les Arts Florissants & William Christie
- Joyce DiDonato & Brentano String Quartet
- Johannes Pramsohler & Darmstädter Barocksolisten
- Kati Debretzeni, English Baroque Soloists & John Eliot Gardiner
- Sergiu Celibidache & Munich Philharmonic