Vivaldi: Concerto for strings 'Il riposo - per il Santissimo Natale', RV 270

“This is period-instrument performance at its best” American Record Guide

“A mix of instrumental and vocal items adds particular attraction to Christmas Concertos and Cantatas. …Susan Gritton dispatches the wide intervals of her final aria with delectable nimbleness and athleticism.” BBC Music Magazine, December 2008 ****

“There's a real lickety-split opening to this colourful disc of Vivaldi concertos: the violin concerto L'inquietudine, not one of its composer's best-known, really earns its title with a restlessly virtuosic solo part, dispatched with taut, nervous energy by Fabio Biondi. In truth there's some scintillating music here, as well as performances which mix suitable inspiration with scrupulous but unfussy attention to detail.
The nearest we get to well-trodden ground here are the vigorous La tempesta di mare and the fantastical La notte (played here in their later 'flute' revisions, but on recorder), and both are performed with tightly controlled virtuosity, and with plenty of surprises – the giant off-beat accents in both concertos' finales, for instance. Elsewhere we get a creamy account of the charming (but perhaps slightly long) Concerto per eco in lontano, a encourage mixed programming so refreshingly different from the Vivaldian norm? It may not always bring us the Red Priest at his most inspired but it certainly shows a few sides to him that we do not always see – enough to confound daft comments about his lack of variety. For this is music brimming with ideas, from the unusual accompanimental texture of the slow movement of RV561, to the E-string-less experiment of RV243 (and the strange, off-beam harmonies of its slow movement), to RV134's excellent fugue.
All are played with La Serenissima's customary bright energy and enthusiasm, to which qualities are here added considerable subtlety of detail: listen to the way Chandler picks his way intelligently through the changing textural landscape strong-boned concerto for two violins, and an exquisite, muted-string Christmas concerto entitled Il riposo. If the sombre Concerto funèbre for multiple soloists is a slight disappointment, it's only because Concerto Italiano (for Erato) have recently taken it to another level of dark theatricality. Overall, though, this is another disc to add to the growing pile of wonderfully refreshing and enlightening Vivaldi recordings to have come out of Italy in recent years.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010

“Enrico Onofri is a player of dazzling virtuosity, whose intonation seldom falters and whose imaginative responses to some of Vivaldi's most poetic utterances thrilled and touched me.” BBC Music Magazine, October 2006 ****

“Enrico Onofri writes that 'when subjected to a profound, subtle and precise reading of the rhetorical formulas that compose them, [Vivaldi's] concertos stand revealed as extremely impassioned works, by turns gently melancholic, impetuous, ironic, dramatic, caricatural, introspective, voluptuous, violent, tender, graceful.' All these characteristics are depicted in Onofri's intensely rhetorical playing. Occasionally he likes to introduce mischievous (perhaps even anarchic) elements into Academia Montis Regalis's performances, as if to insist that we must not regard this music as mere fashionable wallpaper music. The relentlessly tempestuous Concerto RV234, L'inquietudine, is not stuff that corporations will use for holding callers on the telephone.
Onofri's rapid flourishes in the extensive cadenza that concludes the Grosso Mogul Concerto, RV208, are not only phenomenal from a technical point of view but delivered in such a convincing way that every single note seems to matter. Amid the thwacks and snaps in fast tuttis one wonders if elegance might be an authentic Vivaldian characteristic in danger of becoming overlooked, although there is much more to these performances than shock tactics. Among the finest elements of this kaleidoscopic disc are the quieter slower movements: eloquence, grief, tranquillity and desire all seem to be worn on Onofri's sleeve. The Adagio in Concerto RV270, Il riposo, is breathtakingly beautiful; La caccia is unusually provocative, rewarding and frequently amazing.
Academia Montis Regalis present Vivaldi's concertos as totally compelling and meaningful music that demands full attention and respect.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010

“Onofri's rapid flourishes in the extensive cadenza that concludes the Grosso Mogul Concerto, RV208, are not only phenomenal from a technical point of view but delivered in such a convincing way that every single note seems to matter. Among the finest elements of this kaleidoscopic disc are the quieter slower movements: eloquence, grief, tranquillity and desire all seem to be worn on Onofri's sleeve. The Adagio in Concerto RV270, Il riposo, is breathtakingly beautiful; La caccia is unusually provocative, rewarding and frequently amazing.” Gramophone Magazine, October 2006

“This is period-instrument performance at its best” American Record Guide

“Il Giardino Armonico’s performances burst with freshness and prove how exciting original instruments can be.” USA Today, October 1997