The multicolored gumdrops in the artwork associated with the 2010 release of this album on the Dynamic label give little indication of the album's sound. This set of
Vivaldi concertos for two violins is performed by violinist
Giovanni Guglielmo's group
L'Arte dell'Arco, which involves one historical instrument per part. The album was originally recorded in 1996, when this approach was fairly novel, but by 2010 performers had gotten a better feel for when it worked and when it didn't.
Vivaldi's concertos aren't good candidates. For one thing, many of the concertos here were composed for the Ospedale della Pietà, the orphanage where
Vivaldi worked and wrote music for nearly three decades. Iconographic and structural evidence from this building (look for yourself: today it's the Metropole hotel and restaurant) as well as similar Venetian institutions suggests that both the orchestras and choirs that performed at the Ospedale's famed concerts included ensembles of perhaps one or two dozen. The approach here makes little musical sense, either. Eighteen movements of minimal contrast wears on the ears, and
Guglielmo's phrasing, with lots of little crescendos and decrescendos built in, doesn't add up to a consistent way of reflecting the terraced dynamics that are foundational to the music. There are upsides. The acoustic of the Villa Cordillera is historically accurate. The players respond nimbly to
Guglielmo's ideas. And there's something to be said for continued experimentation with
Vivaldi: those who have enjoyed
Rinaldo Alessandrini's revisionist looks at the Italian Baroque may be intrigued here as well. General listeners should do lots of sampling to make sure they like the sound of the one-instrument-per-part approach in
Vivaldi as well as
Guglielmo's own take on it.