Antonio Vivaldi – 12 Concertos Op.4 “La Stravaganza”

Recorded in 1963.

About these works:
La stravanganza (“The Extraordinary”) is a set of concertos, op.  4, written by Antonio Vivaldi in 1712-1713. The set was first published in 1714 and was dedicated to Vettor Delfino. All of the concertos were scored for solo violin, strings, and basso continuo; however, some of the movements in the concertos require extra soloists (like a second violin solo and/or a cello solo).
The violin concertos of La Stravaganza are remarkable for their range of colouration as the Vivaldi discards several vestiges of Corellian influence and reaches out with his own distinct style.  In La Stravaganza Vivaldi has achieved a remarkably high level of consistency and artistic quality from a real exhilaration in the allegros to a deep emotion in the central slow movements. I would single out the splendid concerto in F major, No. 9 as my favourite work. The foot-tapping and trotting pace of the opening movement allegro is infectious. In the central slow movement the somewhat mellifluous yet agitated solo violin against a gentle rocking rhythm is most appealing and the work concludes with a striking and furiously paced allegro. My favourite movement just has to be the meltingly beautiful largo from the concerto in D major, No. 11 which is simply irresistible and is a candidate for one of Vivaldi’s greatest hits. There have not been too many versions of La Stravaganza recorded over the years and consequently the Opus 4 set has remained in the shadow of other published collections such as L’Estro armonico Op.3, Il Cimento dell’armonia e dell’inventione, Op. 8 and La Cetra, Op.9.

The Artists:

Track List:

Stereo, ADD, mp3 (320 kbps), 266.09 Mb, 101 minutes. Info & covers included.

Part1 — Part2 — Part3