Vivaldi: Violin Concerto, Op. 4 No. 7 in C major, RV 185

“Chandler is an impeccably stylish soloist in two violin concertos. Throughout, he also directs La Serenissima in eloquently precise but excitingly spontaneous performances of unfailingly imaginative music” Sunday Times, 5th July 2009 ***

“In the flamboyant double-dots of the C-minor concerto, the melancholy groundbass of the G-minor concerto and the delicious closing Chaconne of the C-major, the playing is consistently zestful. Chandler, flautist Katy Bircher and bassoonist Peter Whelan play a further series of exacting concertos with the effortless musicality of birds.” The Independent on Sunday, 25th July 2009

“…the three solo instruments come and go in various combinations, always pleasing us and never outstaying their welcome. They are played with skill and taste… The orchestral sound, as always with La Serenissima, achieves bright attractiveness and vivacity without feeling the need to pursue the taut energy of some other groups. And that's just fine.” Gramophone Magazine, Awards Issue 2009

“The performances… are typically neatly-pointed and vivacious.” BBC Music Magazine, October 2009 ****

“By the standards of the average Vivaldi violin concerto, the La stravaganza set is quite extravagant stuff, full of fantasy and experiment – novel sounds, ingenious textures, exploratory melodic lines, original types of figuration, unorthodox forms. It's heady music, and listening to its 12 concertos at a sitting, isn't a mode of listening one would recommend.
Still less so in performances as high in voltage as the present ones. There's a current trend in Baroque performance to get away from the cool- ness and objectivity which for a long time were supposed (on the whole, mistakenly) to be a part of performing practice of the time, but possibly the pendulum has swung a little wildly the other way. Perhaps here it's intended to reflect Vivaldi's own notorious freedom of performance. But anyone who's admired earlier recordings with period instruments may find these a little extravagant and hard-hitting. And they aren't helped by the resonant acoustic of the church in Poland used for the recording, which produces a full and bright sound but a boomy bass and less clear a texture than might be ideal.
That said, however, these performances by Rachel Podger are crackling with vitality and executed with consistent brilliance as well as a kind of relish in virtuosity that catches the showy spirit, the self-conscious extravagance, of this particular set of works. There are plenty of movements here where her sheer digital dexterity is astonishing – for instance, the finale of No 6, with its scurrying figures, the second movement of No 7 or the finale of No 2 with its repetitive figures and leaping arpeggios. But perhaps even more enjoyable isthe exquisitely fine detail of some of the slow movements. No 8 in D minor is perhapsthe wildest concerto of the lot, with its extraordinary lines in the first movement, the passionate, mysterious outer sections in the second and the powerful and original figuration inthe finale: that one has a performance to leave you breathless.
Another thing Podger is specially good at is the shaping of those numerous passages of Vivaldian sequences, which can be drearily predictable, but aren't so here because she knows just how to control the rhythmic tension and time the climax and resolution with logic and force. This set is certainly recommended as a fine example of a modern view of Baroque performance – and it sounds even better on SACD.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010

“Crisp, agile and convincing.” BBC Music Magazine, June 2010 *****

“A welcome follow-up to Vol. 1, Concertos 1-6, to which I gave an enthusiastic review [HFN/RR Dec'99]. Many of the same positive qualities are on show here: lively, short-phrased modern-instrument playing in near-period style, with a continuo divided between harpsichord and archlute (plus string bass of course). The continuo players, who are balanced with care to give the right degree of harmonic support, are not named. Neither is the second violinist who contributes to Concerto 11. On the whole, Andrew Watkinson copes well with everything Vivaldi throws at him, adding the occasional decoration... The forward recording has excellent ambience... Those who bought Vol. 1 [8.553323] will certainly need to complete the set with this disc.” Hi-Fi News