An exhilarating romp through the Venetian prince of the Italian Baroque: 50 works, many of them still little-known, in historically informed performances with plenty of impact and colour.


After a dashing opening movement there is generally a central Adagio, in the form of a tripartite song or a simple sequence of chords. This is followed by a lively, dancelike movement in two parts with two refrains. On occasion this finale is replaced by a technically superlative Fugue that displays Vivaldi’s mastery of counterpoint. Sometimes the Fugue is placed at the beginning of the Concerto, perhaps implying the original context of the work as the instrumental introduction to a solemn Mass. In complement to the concertos, the Sinfonias generally feature bolder and more brilliant string writing, evidently for use as the curtain-raiser to a theatrical event, though they now stand perfectly well on their own.