Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741)
Sonatas for cello and continuo (ca. 1720-1730)
Bologna Baroque/Antonio Mostacci (cello)
rec. 2019, Haus Gnad, Vienna, Austria
Booklet with commentary in Italian and English included
Tactus TC672291 [2 CDs: 122]
The nine sonatas for violoncello and basso continuo by Antonio Vivaldi are among the best-known cello works of the Baroque period. They are a focal point of the cello repertoire for the early music scene because of their richness of ideas, drama, and emotional depth. With modest technical demands, the attention for listeners is on their musical substance and poignancy.
Posthumous reception of Vivaldi has focused on a small part of his vast, diverse output, especially Le quattro stagioni, the first four concerti in a collection of twelve: Il cimento dell’armonia e dell’inventione, Op. 8 (1725). The present two-disc release will, hopefully, draw attention to Vivaldi’s intimate works that have come to be classified as chamber music.
Cellist Antonio Mostacci and Bologna Baroque have made the nine extant Sonate per violoncello e continuo readily accessible in performances combining fresh discovery with passion and commitment. The musicians have researched and prepared these performances meticulously; their playing brings out the narratives that these small instrumental pieces convey. Each sonata begins with a ‘largo’, which contrasts with the pattern of Vivaldi’s concerti grossi, which tends to be ‘allegro’ – ‘adagio’ – ‘allegro’. Since the technique of beginning with a slow introduction is associated with many symphonies by Franz Joseph Haydn, it is interesting to hear this type of opening several decades earlier.
These four-movement sonatas add another dimension to the image of Vivaldi as a composer of concerti grossi in the three-movement format that he popularised for that genre. Each sonata evokes a particular mood, and in the ‘largo’ movements prefigure early Romantic compositions. Although the style is unmistakably Vivaldi’s, it is not hard to imagine that Franz Schubert and members of his circle would have appreciated the opening ‘largo’ to the seventh sonata (RV 44) in A minor if they could have heard it. All nine sonatas have a serious air; those in minor keys are unabashedly melancholy.
As with the set of Giuseppe Torelli’s 12 Concerti grossi, Op. 8, which I reviewed in July 2023, Tactus has set a high standard for presentation that other record companies should heed. The front cover of the booklet features a high-quality reproduction of Il Bacino di San Marco by Giovanni Antonio Canal (‘Canaletto’) (1730-1735), which is a contemporary visual representation of where Vivaldi lived and composed these sonatas. The booklet contains a detailed, informative essay in Italian and English and is blessedly free of advertising.
With a rich, sonorous cello that is prominent without ever overpowering the other instruments and each detail, including the harpsichord, distinctly audible, the sound quality is first rate. This set is a clear recommendation for anyone interested in Vivaldi or Baroque music in general. I enjoyed Vivaldi’s cello sonatas even more than I anticipated that I would because each one is a wordless drama with an individual character. This recording is thoroughly engrossing and as satisfying on repeated listening as classic recordings of popular concerti grossi (e.g., L’estro armonico, Op. 3).
Daniel Floyd
Help us financially by purchasing from
