Tuesday 27 April 2010

Vivaldi - Cello Concerto RV420 [Wallfisch/ Kraemer-City Of London Sinfonia]

This fourth volume of Cello Concertos, played by Raphael Wallfisch are superb [i hope Naxos issue the full 4 volumes as a boxset sometime], the sheer invention of Vivaldi is incredible, if you love the inventiveness of the Four Seasons, then you will discover that there are equal magical moments all over his roughly 500 odd Concertos.

Of these 7 Concertos on this disc, RV420 really got my attention, and mainly it's the final movement, it's such a whirlwind of a piece, building up tension, and then releasing it, not to mention it's in a minor key, it starts off with the strings making some frantic hurried sounds, and a slight whiff of dissonance adds to the mix [0:00-0:29], which returns again and again and again [0:52, 1:36, 2:30 & 3:13], repetition when used right is the boon of enjoyment, i love hearing an excellent device again and again, it seems that it builds up each time you hear it, multiplying the effect, in this movement it's not the Cello that's the star, it's those frantic strings!, and that harpsichord in the background, the cello just gives a nice rest to the ears now and again.

Here's the third movement of RV420, played by Jonathon Cohen on YouTube.