Vivaldi: Concerto for strings No. 8, RV 127

Adrian Chandler and La Serenissima, winners of 2010’s Gramophone Award in the Baroque Instrumental category for Vivaldi: The French Connection (AV2178), present the sequel, The French Connection 2, which features the world-premiere recording of Il Gran mogul, the lost Vivaldi Flute Concerto recently rediscovered in the National Archives of Scotland.

Unearthing of the score – which has been authenticated by the world’s leading Vivaldi scholars – made international, mainstream news and this first recording, by today’s leading exponents of the music of Vivaldi, is eagerly anticipated. The album contains nine concertos in all, including another premiere of a recently discovered Violin Concerto.

The French Connection enjoyed success on both sides of the pond, with a Top 3 Billboard Classical Chart position and nationwide airplay in the US as well as the UK.

One of the United States best period instrument ensembles teams up with one of the worlds best lutenists to perform the music of one of the most beloved composers of all time for this exciting new release from Sono Luminus. The Bach Sinfonia, under the direction Daniel Abraham performs the lute works of Vivaldi with GRAMMY® Nominated lutenist Ronn McFarlane delivering one of the years most exciting concerto albums.

The Baroque concerto owes much of its development and advancement to Vivaldi. At the essence of the genre’s structure is idea of the ritornello. In the Baroque concerto, these reoccurring statements each alternate with modulating episodes with freer character in which the soloist(s) dominate the overall texture. Treatment of the ritornello within the works varies greatly among composers: whereas Bach and other Germans often integrated the ideas of the refrain, either complete or in part, as accompaniment to the episodes, Vivaldi relies heavily on exploring only specific ideas of the complete refrain and regularly ignores or alters other elements of the ritornello during repetitions.

In addition, Vivaldi’s works advance the standard Italianate concerto scheme of three movements in a fast-slow-fast pattern. The Bach Sinfonia is dedicated to excellence in performance, public education and disseminating a greater understanding of the variety of styles, composers, and masterpieces of the baroque, pre-classical, and classical periods. Specialists in the performance of music of the 17th and 18th centuries, the ensemble presents concerts, lectures, and other cultural events designed to be not only entertainment but also an educational experience. Their performances and recordings have received outstanding reviews and international recognition.

The work of conductor Daniel Abraham has garnered praise from many noteworthy sources including The Washington Post, Choral Journal, the BBC and Early Music America. Abraham’s performances have been nationally broadcast on National Public Radio’s Performance Today, he has appeared at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, the Concert Hall of the Music Center at Strathmore, The National Women’s Museum of the Arts, and has prepared choruses for the national broadcasts of the Kennedy Center Honors Gala (PBS) and Christmas in Washington (TNT). Abraham is associate professor of music and director of choral activities at American University in Washington, D.C., and is a sought after clinician who has given master classes and clinics throughout the United States, Canada, and as far as Cairo, Egypt.

Ronn McFarlane, lutenist, is one of the most outstanding lutenists performing today and is largely responsible for bringing the transcendent charm and timeless quality of the lute into the musical mainstream and making it accessible to a larger audience. McFarlane has numerous recordings on the Dorian and then Sono Luminus labels including solo recordings, lute song recordings, over ten CDs with the Baltimore Consort and ballad recordings with Custer LaRue and members of the Baltimore Consort. In 2009, his CD Indigo Road, released with Sono Luminus, was nominated for a GRAMMY® award.

Along with the beautiful lute works featuring McFarlane, the album enjoys a beautiful vocal performance from soprano Jennifer Ellis Kampani as the featured soloist for In Turbato mare irato.

Mexico after the Spanish arrived saw a great deal of European art and culture being imported, including music from the great centres such as Venice. Not having harpsichords to hand, it became usual to use local instruments, vihuela and guitarron, for continuo. This policy is used here, and the sharp clear sound of the strings with the rhythmic base gives these works a new impetus and vitality. The Vivaldi pieces are fairly well known but the fine concertos by Facco were only discovered relatively recently.

This new hybrid SACD features a selection of Vivaldi’s concertos for oboe, strings, and continuo. The soloist is one of the most accomplished young performers on the European scene at the moment, Pauline Oostenrijk. She has already released two recordings through Challenge Classics, most recently a collection of 20th century pieces entitled “Oboesession”, (CC72062).

In 1999 Pauline Oostenrijk received the Music Prize of The Netherlands, the highest State Award for classical music. Before that, she had already won numerous prizes on national and international competitions. Her activities as a soloist and chamber musician were recorded on a number of highly acclaimed CDs. She plays recitals with pianist Ivo Janssen, and performs regularly with her sister, soprano Nienke Oostenrijk, in the Ensemble Oostenrijk-Jansen (with cembalo-player David Jansen and cellist Maarten Jansen). She is a member of the Orlando Wind Quintet and the ensemble Nieuw Amsterdams Peil. Several composers have dedicated works to her, among them Louis Andriessen.

In Vivaldi's time there was an orphan girl named Pelegrina who spent most of her life at the Pio Ospedale della Pietà. Pelegrina was by far the most accomplished oboist when Vivaldi worked at the Ospedale (the only other oboist mentioned in the archives is one Susanna, in 1726), we can assume that a number of the oboe concertos featured on this CD were also written for, and performed by, Pelegrina.

Vivaldi’s creative genius was not on a level with that of Bach, Mozart or Strauss, but it was considerable all the same. The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians calls him "the most original and influential Italian composer of his generation" and continues: "He laid the foundations for the mature Baroque concerto. His contributions to musical style, violin technique and the practice of orchestration were substantial, and he was a pioneer of orchestral program music."