Vivaldi's Cello
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CD Details
Composer: Antonio VivaldiConductor: Ton Koopman
Orchestra: Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra
Performer: Yo-Yo Ma
Edition: Music CD
Music Label: Sony
Soundtracks:
- Double Cello Concerto, for 2 cellos, strings & continuo in G minor, RV 531: I. Allegro
- Double Cello Concerto, for 2 cellos, strings & continuo in G minor, RV 531: II. Largo
- Double Cello Concerto, for 2 cellos, strings & continuo in G minor, RV 531: III. Allegro
- Violin Concerto, for violin, strings & continuo in F minor ('L'inverno,' The Four Seasons; 'Il cimento' No. 4), Op. 8/4, RV 297: II.
- Cello Concerto, for cello, strings & continuo in B flat major, RV 423: I. Allegro
- Cello Concerto, for cello, strings & continuo in B flat major, RV 423: II. Largo
- Cello Concerto, for cello, strings & continuo in B flat major, RV 423: III. Allegro
- La Fida ninfa, opera in 3 acts, RV 714: Cos�¬ sugl' occhi miei
- Double Concerto, for viola d'amore & lute, strings & continuo in D minor, RV 540: I. Allegro
- Double Concerto, for viola d'amore & lute, strings & continuo in D minor, RV 540: II. Largo
- Double Concerto, for viola d'amore & lute, strings & continuo in D minor, RV 540: III. Allegro
- Giustino, opera in 3 acts, RV 717: La gloria del mio sangue
- Cello Concerto, for cello, strings & continuo in C minor 'Alla Rustica,' RV 401: I. Allegro non molto
- Cello Concerto, for cello, strings & continuo in C minor 'Alla Rustica,' RV 401: II. Adagio
- Cello Concerto, for cello, strings & continuo in C minor 'Alla Rustica,' RV 401: III. Allegro ma non molto
- Juditha triumphans devicta Holofernes barbarie, oratorio in 2 parts, RV 644: Noli, �² cara, te adorantis
- Gloria, for 3 solo voices, chorus, trumpet, oboe, violin (ad lib), 2 violas, 2 cellos, strings & continuo in D major, RV 589: Laudamu
- Juditha triumphans devicta Holofernes barbarie, oratorio in 2 parts, RV 644: Quanto magis generosa
- La Fida ninfa, opera in 3 acts, RV 714: Dite oihmè
Music reviews of Vivaldi's Cello
Music Review: Vivaldi Boycott Over.
Rating: 3 Stars
I was shocked and excited this week when I saw an add for a Yo-Yo Ma album of Vivaldi's music. It's a great partnership- one of the greatest cellists of our times pairing up with one of the founding fathers of the cello as a solo vehicle. Being a Vivaldi fan, and also being aware of Ma's previous two baroque CDs, I was begining to think that he intended to boycott recording Vivaldi for his entire career. How can one record two baroque cello CD's without one piece by the the greatest contributer of baroque repitiore? Thankfully that ignorance is over. The CD is somewhat disapointing, however. Ma is an undisputed master of the modern cello, and he seems relatively at home with the baroque fitted instrument, but he does not have mastery over the baroque instrument. The lower pitch and darker, duller tone quality are expected and enjoyable parts of period practice, but Ma and the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra have balance problems. Vivaldi's vivacious style contains much rapid figuration where clairity is a must for success of the music. The B-flat major and g minor concertos suffer the most from this muddying of the details, which in effect is the muddying Vivaldi's entire musical intent. The Baroque cello is dark and muted in tone, but under a master is never muddy. The concertos do spark with a violent energy in the outer movements, with a tinkering wave of continuo sounds always at hand. But it's during the murky always heavy sounding solos that disapointment sets in. The Contrabass always plays the continuo in the concertos along with a showering of plucked instruments, and Ma's already muddied solos are buried under more sediment, plus the expressive mood of passages is made uniformly heavy and inflexible because of this decision. Masterful playing might have overcome these preformance decisions, but the cello playing here is not masterful. Other than the B flat, and the g and c minor concertos the other works are all arrangements of Vivaldi. This immediately seems strange because Vivaldi (unlike Bach of the simply baroque CDs) wrote 27 cello concertos and nine sonatas that survive today. The argument described in the notes for this is a "want for more varitey" and concertos for strings having their "limitations- absence of woodwinds for example." This want coming in part (Koopman of the orchestra was the other partner) from Ma, a man who has recorded Bach's suites several times. The suites are great works, and probably Ma's favorites, but my point is that by the standard stated above those albums have much less variety than a non-arranged Vivaldi album would. The arangements themselves are clever- close attention was put forth in there creation, although they would have shocked Vivaldi and his contemporaries despite what the program notes argue. But overall they are much less effective than the original Vivaldi. There are six total tracks of vocal arangements. These are all singing arias that contain beautiful tunes, but lack Vivaldi's cello approach which, among other things, contrasts rapid, charged passages with singing, dreamy ones. The choral arangments lack virtuosity and contrast that Vivaldi would have employed for the cello. Thus these aragments are pretty but rather empty without the human voice. The best of the choral arangments are the 17 Laudamus Te (a duet, here for two cellos) and the 18 Quanto Magis Generosa( the viola d'amore and cello mix wonderfully here).
The slow movement to the winter concerto from the four seasons makes a nice conversion to the cello (this would not shock Vivaldi and CO.) in track two. Also arranged is the great d minor concerto for lute and Viola d'amore, now for cello and chamber organ. Vivaldi chose two interestingly contrasting yet somehow complementary instruments. The organ and cello here are interestingly contrasting, but not very complementary. The organ is too quiet (making for a very uneven pairing) and it's tone suffers from a soft, pinched quality that is at odds with the sound intended by Vivaldi.
Overall though, this is an interesting (if not entirely satisfying) CD with many great moments. The Brooding interpretation of the g minor concerto is hard to forget. But the highlight for me was the tragic c minor concerto, which is delicately handled, especially the 1st movement.
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