Vivaldi: Concerto for Violin & Cello in B flat minor, RV 547

Vivaldi joined the staff of the Ospedale della Pietà in September 1703 as Maestro di Violin. Established in the 14th century, the Pietà was one of four charitable Venetian orphanages for women supported by the state. Vivaldi’s instrumental chamber works cannot be dated with any certainty, nor do we know for whom they were written. Despite this lack of information, we can surmise he produced them for his pupils at the Pietà, perhaps during the late 1720's and 1730's.

Bach, Telemann and several French composers all explored the chamber concerto medium to a great degree. 18th-century Italian composers, who concentrated on opera, sacred and secular music for the voice, appear to have ignored it, with the exception of Vivaldi. Our modern image of Vivaldi is primarily that of a secular composer, yet much of his work was intended for performances in the church. The importance of sacred music for solo voice in the oeuvre of Vivaldi emerges with a bolds statistic: of his fifty or so extant sacred vocal works, thirty are for solo voice.

These sacred pieces reflect the talents of the orphans at the Ospedale della Pietà, which maintained an allfemale choir and orchestra responsible for the music in its chapel. Despite its ability to perform choral music at a very high standard, the Pietà also laid special emphasis on works for solo voice.

Antonio Vivaldi (1678 – 1741) was a musical genius and shone at his brightest when writing for strings. His ever-popular Four Seasons aside, there are countless other extraordinary concertos that Vivaldi wrote for strings.

This recording, a re-release dating from 1992, presents no fewer than nine concertos: two featuring solo cello; one for solo violin and cello; one for two violins and two cellos; one for four violins; and finally four for string orchestra without soloists.

Extraordinary repertoire demands extraordinary performances and those from our orchestra and guests are second to none.

This remarkable specially-priced 4-CD boxed set (a repackaging of the now deleted OP30347) gathers together recordings and highlights from critically acclaimed and best-selling Vivaldi recordings by the award-winning combination of Europa Galante and its director Fabio Biondi. It includes their legendary interpretation of The Four Seasons, alongside a wide range of works including concertos for violin, cello, and strings and a selection of the marvellous Dresden Sonatas. On the last recording, violinist Biondi’s continuo musicians include Rinaldo Alessandrini on harpsichord.