Vivaldi, Leclair & Locatelli - Violin Concertos
£16.10
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Label: Harmonia Mundi
Cat No: HMM902649
Format: CD
Number of Discs: 1
Genre: Orchestral
Release Date: 18th February 2022
Contents
Works
Violin Concertos (6), op.7Prelude in C major (after Trio Sonata RV60)
Violin Concerto in B minor, RV384
Violin Concerto in C major, RV179a 'per Anna Maria'
Artists
Theotime Langlois de Swarte (violin)Les Ombres
Conductors
Margaux BlanchardSylvain Sartre
Works
Violin Concertos (6), op.7Prelude in C major (after Trio Sonata RV60)
Violin Concerto in B minor, RV384
Violin Concerto in C major, RV179a 'per Anna Maria'
Artists
Theotime Langlois de Swarte (violin)Les Ombres
Conductors
Margaux BlanchardSylvain Sartre
About
Sound/Video
Paused
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1Vivaldi: Prelude in A minor (after Violin Concerto RV355)
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2Leclair: Violin Concerto in A minor, op.7/5: 1. Vivace
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3Leclair: Violin Concerto in A minor, op.7/5: 2. Largo – Adagio
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4Leclair: Violin Concerto in A minor, op.7/5: 3. Allegro assai
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5Vivaldi: Violin Concerto in B minor, RV384: 1. Allegro
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6Vivaldi: Violin Concerto in B minor, RV384: 2. Largo
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7Vivaldi: Violin Concerto in B minor, RV384: 3. Allegro
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8Locatelli: Violin Concerto in E minor, op.3/8: 1. Andante – Capriccio
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9Locatelli: Violin Concerto in E minor, op.3/8: 2. Largo
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10Locatelli: Violin Concerto in E minor, op.3/8: 3. Allegro – Capriccio
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11Leclair: Violin Concerto in D major, op.10/3: 1. Allegro moderato
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12Leclair: Violin Concerto in D major, op.10/3: 2. Andante
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13Leclair: Violin Concerto in D major, op.10/3: 3. Allegro ma non troppo
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14Vivaldi: Prelude in C major (after Trio Sonata RV60)
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15Vivaldi: Violin Concerto in C major, RV179a ‘per Anna Maria’: 1. Allegro ma poco
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16Vivaldi: Violin Concerto in C major, RV179a ‘per Anna Maria’: 2. Largo
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17Vivaldi: Violin Concerto in C major, RV179a ‘per Anna Maria’: 3. Allegro (reconstr. Olivier Fourés)
Europadisc Review
Perhaps surprisingly, it is the two Vivaldi concertos that are the rarities here, for while both Locatelli and Leclair have enjoyed good fortune in the recording studios in recent years, Vivaldi’s more than 200 concertos for solo violin are more patchily represented in the catalogue – no shortage of the ubiquitous Four Seasons and other published collections, but the rest far less evenly covered. Another particular interest of this disc is that it illustrates the web of influences between the three violinist-composers. Both Vivaldi and Leclair received their first instruction on the violin from their respective fathers. Vivaldi (the eldest of the three by almost two decades) was based in Rome when the Bergamese Locatelli first met him, and the younger composer later joined the ‘Red Priest’ in Venice.
Leclair, a native of Lyon and Locatelli’s junior by a couple of years, met the latter in Kassel but settled in Paris. The two were highly contrasting in their style of playing, Leclair described by one commentator as playing ‘like an angel’, Locatelli as ‘like a devil’. Yet the two formed an unlikely friendship, and there is every evidence that they both held each other in mutual respect and learnt a great deal from one another. And both were strongly influenced by Vivaldi, Locatelli directly, Leclair thanks to the wide dissemination of the Venetian’s printed works.
In these performances, Langlois de Swarte, splendidly partnered by the musicians of Les Ombres under the joint direction of Margaux Blanchard and Sylvain Sartre, highlights the points of contact while imbuing each work with huge character. Two of the concertos (Leclair’s op.7 no.5 and Vivaldi’s RV179a) are preceded by short preparatory improvisations on works by Vivaldi, allowing orchestra and soloist to limber up. The programme proper begins with Leclair’s A minor Violin Concerto, op.7 no.5, with an opening Vivace whose energetic propulsion, swaying triplet figuration and circle-of-fifths sequences all bear a Vivaldian thumbprint. The slow movement is an F major Largo in siciliano rhythm with two extended solo episodes of almost operatic expressiveness, and a concluding Adagio tutti which ends on a dominant preparation for the A minor third movement. This is a boisterous Allegro assai with athletic sequences and which, in the third of the soloist’s episodes, makes a sudden excursion to A major in marvellously rustic hurdy-gurdy style, before an equally sudden return to A minor in the final bars.
Next comes Vivaldi’s Violin Concerto in B minor, RV384. With only one other recording in the current catalogue, this is a welcome addition to the discography for a tautly organised work whose outer movements crackle with energy, virtuosity and antiphonal effects, framing a central Largo (also in B minor) whose sense of musing desolation is underlined by its scoring for violin and continuo alone. The contrast with Locatelli’s E minor Violin Concerto could hardly be greater; the eighth concerto from his hugely influential L’arte del violin, op.3, this is a work of unexpected poise and refinement given the composer’s devilish reputation. The distinguishing feature of the op.3 works is the inclusion in their outer movements of solo capriccios – extended, highly virtuosic cadenzas, the first one here a dreamy exercise in string-crossing arpeggiation which strikingly anticipates Paganini, the second even more virtuosic, with sustained trills held against a slow-moving lower line. Yet the central slow movement, and passionately felt Largo, is by no means overshadowed in this deeply considered yet dazzlingly stylish account.
Leclair’s D major Concerto, op.10 no.3, represents a tangible stylistic advance on his op.7 set. It is closer to the more strenuous idiom of Locatelli, with both the musical invention and the solo writing feeling knottier in an unmistakably late-Baroque style, but brought off with considerable panache by Langlois de Swarte and his ever-alert colleagues. The C major Concerto by Vivaldi, RV179a, that concludes the programme is another rare masterpiece, one of a number works composed for one of his star pupils in Venice, Anna Maria ‘della Pietà’. Its bold, ambitious tone is set by the opening bars: just listen to the contrast between its opening bars and the remarkably similar figuration of the opening to the B minor Concerto earlier on the same disc; or again to the imposing, declamatory tutti that launches the central Largo, which magically sets off the limpid solo passages. Only the solo violin part survives for the closing Allegro – the ripieno parts for this recording have been skilfully reconstructed by Olivier Fourés. De Swarte’s playing here rises to the occasion (and the extraordinary demands of the concluding cadenza, with crystalline string-crossing in the upper register), enhanced by Harmonia Mundi’s exceptionally vivid recording from the Arsenal in Metz. For lovers of Baroque music, it’s the icing on the cake of another outstanding release from this brilliant young musician.
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