Vivaldi: Concerto for Multiple Instruments in G minor RV574

Les Ambassadeurs launch a series of recordings devoted to the repertory of the Dresdner Hofkapelle at the time of Bach, with the aim of rediscovering the splendid sound of an ensemble then regarded as the orchestral ideal.

The ties of friendship between Johann Georg Pisendel – who led the orchestra – and Antonio Vivaldi held firm for life. Between their first meeting in Venice in 1716 and the death of the Prete Rosso in 1741, Pisendel continually enriched his collection of Vivaldi concertos, a certain number of which were manifestly tailor-made for his outstanding technique and equally exceptional delicacy of expression. This explains why Dresden holds so many Vivaldian treasures, sometimes autograph, sometimes copied in Pisendel’s own hand.

Although the concertos assembled by Les Ambassadeurs bear no explicit dedication, there can be little doubt that they were expressly written for the Dresden orchestra: they feature the instrumentation typical of the court Kapelle, with its horns and oboes vying for prominence with the violin.

Welcome to the weird and wonderful world of Vivaldi’s multiple-instrument concertos!

The term ‘con molti istromenti’ (Vivaldi’s own) refers not so much to the literal number of instruments involved as to their variety and unusual deployment. For an Italian concerto of the period to use wind instruments at all would be unusual; Vivaldi combines recorders, oboes, chalumeaux, horns and bassoons alongside a wide-ranging complement of strings, itself including viole all’inglese and the even more obscure violins ‘in tromba marina’.

The composer’s opportunity to write such works arose largely from the talented pool of girls available at the Pietà orphanage in Venice. These expert musicians would turn their hands to whatever Vivaldi could possibly desire and the resultant scoring is colourful (sometimes outrageously so) and inexhaustibly inventive.