Vivaldi's father, Giovanni Battista, was a violinist at St Mark's Cathedral, and although he taught the prodigiously gifted Antonio to play from early childhood, a musical career seemed unlikely, especially when, aged 15, he was shunted off to join the priesthood. The reason for his emergency baptism is not known for certain but is likely due to his poor health or to an earthquake that shook Venice on that day. The exact date of Vivaldi's birth (4th March 1678) confounded scholars for many years, although it was known that following his delivery the midwife performed an emergency baptism.
His vast output included substantial quantities of chamber and vocal music, some 46 operas and a remarkable 500 concertos.Ī colourful character with an eye for the ladies, Vivaldi defied a lifetime of ill-health by regularly absenting himself from his home base of Venice in a desperate attempt to establish an international reputation. The bottom line is that the newcomer to Vivaldi can do much better than this.Antonio Vivaldi (1678–1741) was one of the most productive composers of the Baroque era. Things improve over the rest of the second disc (there are various ensembles involved, playing on recordings drawn from catalogs now under the control of the Berlin Classics label), but not a lot of effort has been expended on remastering, and artistically and sonically the set feels like a grab bag. That's actually the newest in the set the Violin Concerto in A minor, RV 356, that opens disc two was recorded way back in 1972 and was a fine specimen of the absolutely expressionless way of playing Vivaldi that held the stage in those days. That distinction would be reserved for the bizarre, jittery readings of the entire Four Seasons set, by violinist Thomas Zehetmair leading the Camerata Bern, that takes up most of the first disc. A vocal work or three might have been in order. The Four Seasons violin concertos certainly qualify, but almost all the rest of the pieces are concertos as well, with hundreds of rivals of equal quality. Whether or not the works on this double-disc set are Vivaldi's greatest is open to dispute.
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