Luogo e data di registrazione		Amsterdam (Olanda) - aprile 1977 (op. 5) Parigi (Francia) - giugno 1970 (op. 13) Het Wapen Van Eindhoven (Olanda) - gennaio 1967 (op. 14)
	Registrazione: live / studio		studio
	Producer / Engineer		-
	Prima Edizione originale LP		Philips - 9500 396 - (1 LP) - durata 54' 40" - (p) 1977 - Analogico - (op. 5) Philips - 6504 009 - (1 LP) - durata 52' 00" - (p) 1970 - Analogico - (op. 13) Philips - 802 818 - (1 LP) - durata 57' 12" - (p) 1967 - Analogico - (op. 14)
	Note		-

SIX SONATAS, OP. 5 In 1716-17 the Amsterdam publisher Estienne Roger brought out three collections of instrumental music by Vivaldi, using the imprint of his daughter and heir-designate Jeanne. These comprised a set of six sonatas, Op. 5, and two sets of concertos, one (Op. 6) containing six and the other (Op. 7) 12 works. The initiative for their publication almost certainly came from Roger, for had the project originated with the composer, he would surely have provided dedications for them, as he had done in Op. 3 and Op. 4 and was to do again in Op. 8 and Op. 9. The fact is that in the wake of the enormous, continent-wide success of Vivaldi’s first two collections of concertos there was an insatiable demand for his music which Roger would naturally be eager to satisfy. Although Vivaldi’s reputation had been founded on instrumental music, his field of activity had suddenly widened in the mid-1710's to embrace both sacred vocal music and opera. The abrupt departure from the Pietà (the Venetian orphanage-cum-conservatoire where he held the positions of violin master and orchestral director) of its choirmaster Francesco Casparini meant that from 1713 until perhaps as late as 1717-18, when Vivaldi took up residence in Mantua, he was required to compose music for the chapel (his great oratorio "Juditha triumphans" dates from 1716). Concurrently, he was kept busy at the Sant’Angelo opera house as impresario and resident composer-arranger. During these years, therefore, instrumental composition must have been pushed somewhat into the background. Op. 5 contains four sonatas for violin and basso (the catch-all term for cello, keyboard continuo, or both combined) followed by two for a pair of violins with basso continuo (here clearly keyboard continuo, optionally reinforced by cello). Mixed instrumental specifications of this kind are common in seventeenth-century collections, rarer in the more commercially minded eighteenth century. In the contemporary collection most comparable in this respect with Vivaldi’s Op. 5, a group of eight “solo” sonatas and six trio sonatas brought out in Paris by the Italian émigré Michele Mascitti as his Op. 4 (1711), the second violin part in the trios is, significantly, ad libitum. The proportion of solo to trio sonatas in both collections illustrates the change in the relative popularity of the two settings that occurred soon after 1700. All six works in Vivaldi’s Op. 5 are styled as chamber sonatas; that is, they comprise two or three dance movements introduced by a Preludio. With one exception the dances belong to the five favoured types: Allemanda (in moderate to quick quadruple time), Corrente (in quick triple time), Sarabanda (in slightly quicker triple time), Giga (in quick compound time - here, rather unusually, 9/8), and Gavotta (in very quick duple time). Slower tempos are found in the preludes, which have all but shed their ancestral connexion with the opening movement of the church sonata and possess a truly dance-like lilt. The Air-Menuet (was this title Vivaldi’s?) closing the last sonata attests to the huge vogue for the minuet in the early eighteenth century. Vivaldi’s close contemporary Francesco Antonio Bonporti had one hundred of them published in Venice c. 1710, while Telemann’s quaintly worded “Sept fois sept et un menuet” came out in Hamburg in 1728. All the movements in Op. 5 are cast in binary form, repeats being prescribed for both sections. The greater length of the second section allows for modulatory digressions and sometimes a reprise of the opening idea. It is interesting to compare the solo sonatas in Op. 5 with their predecessors of Op. 2 (1709), especially as Roger designated Op. 5 the “second part” (parte seconda) of Op. 2 and accordingly numbered the works from 13 to 18. Although the bass in the earlier set is named for harpsichord, its liveliness and high level of thematic interaction with the violin brings the works very close to the idiom of the sonatas for violin and cello (without continuo) which flourished in Italy around the turn of the century. In Op. 5 the bass is generally less ambitious, but one finds traces of its earlier manner in the Gavotta of the second sonata and the Allemanda of the fourth. The shape of things to come is revealed in the Gavotta of the third sonata, however, here the bass provides a mere strut for the violin, often following it in parallel motion as if to emphasise its dependence. The style of the new sonatas is airier, less intense. Playfulness is suggested by the sometimes almost inane repetition for bars on end of simple figures. The trios make an even greater contrast with their predecessors of Op. 1 (1705). The former parity between the violins is only occasionally observed (most noticeably, perhaps, in the Allemanda of the last sonata); more typical are passages where the first violin holds sway. The second violin could even be omitted, a la Mascitti, from the Preludio of the same sonata without serious damage. Vivaldi does not disguise a strong whiff of the concerto style. In several places one could well imagine one is hearing one of his chamber concertos, several of which are scored for a trio combination. Looking at the matter positively, we might even say that in these delightful sonatas Vivaldi is, for the first time in the sonata genre, well and truly himself. Michael Talbot SIX SONATAS, OP. 13 "IL PASTOR FIDO" We know very little about the six sonatas for bagpipe, lyre, flute, oboe, or violin, and basso continuo, which under the title "Il Pastor Fido" constitute the Op. 13 of Antonio Vivaldi. A copy of the score is preserved in the Arles Library and another is to be found in the Bavarian State Library in Munich. A third is reported to be in the Arsenal Library in Paris. This version, without title or signature, is integrated in a collection of various pieces for bagpipe. The instrumentation of these works and the fact that "Il Pastor Fido" was published not in Italy but in France (by Widow Boivin in 1737) leads one to think that they could be arrangements of Vivaldi compositions by a French musician. In this connexion there comes to mind Chédeville the Younger, who showed particular interest in the works of Vivaldi. In 1739 Chédeville applied for a royal licence "to adapt. transpose, and arrange in a simple manner suitable for execution by bagpipe, lyre, or flute" a number of Italian works by Vivaldi, including "The Four Seasons". Finally he indicated in his dedication to the Marquis de Collande that he wished to adapt the pieces to the "rustic tone or the bagpipe" (M. Pincherle). The bagpipe at that time in France was very much in fashion, but in Italy it was rarely plaved. Finally, several movements of "Il Pastor Fido" are taken from different works by Vivaldi. For example, the Allegro assai of the second sonata is borrowed from an oboe concerto, the Allegro ma non presto of the fourth sonata is from a violin concerto, and the sixth sonata's Allegro ma non presto is from one of the concertos of "La Stravaganza" (similarly transcribed by J. S. Bach and arranged for solo harpsichord). In view of Vivaldi’s musical fecundity, it seems odd that he himself should have rearranged his earlier works for other instruments instead of writing new compositions. One thing is sure; the musical text of these sonatas is by Vivaldi and although we cannot prove that the title "Il Pastor Fido" comes from the Venetian master, it does, nevertheless, suit this music extraordinarily well. Except for the serious G minor of the sixth sonata, we find here a simple, friendly, rustic form of expression, which suits perfectly the bucolic character of the recorder, the instrument we have chosen for this reason from those proposed in the preface to the work. Pains have been taken in the performance to revive the rules and usage of the period (unequal note values, articulation pauses, grace notes, etc.) and, as far as ornamentation is concerned, to find a synthesis of the elegant style of the French and the inventiveness of the Italians. The Instruments The recorder, the harpsichord, and the cello are all instruments of the period. They are tuned to the pitch customary in the eighteenth century, a half-tone lower than normal today. Although the sound is less brilliant, it gains in warmth and timbre. The recorder, kindly lent by Mme G. Thibault-Chambure, of the Conservatory of the Instrument Museum, Paris, is by Christian Schlegel (Basel, early eighteenth century). Its unequal temperament gives it a very individual sound. The harpsichord, in which all the elements are still authentic, is a large Ruckers of 1627, “overhauled” in 1753 and now the property of C. Mercier-Ythier. (The ”overhaul” of a harpsichord was a special operation common in the eighteenth century whereby the sound spectrum of the keyboard - particularly in the lower octaves - was enlarged. This necessitated enlargement of the case and changes in the interior of the instrument. In the “overhaul” of this Ruckers at that period a lute stop was added to the upper 8’.) The maker of the cello was Jacques Boquay, who signed this instrument in 1719. At that period in France the cello was beginning to supplant the bass viol or viola da gamba, which in Italy had already practically disappeared. The writing of the bass part and the indication ”violoncello” in the score of “ll Pastor Fido” leave no doubt about its use for the continuo of this work. This is further confirmed by the concertante role of the cello with the recorder in the Pastorale of the fourth sonata. The organ, originally intended for the Pastorale of the fourth sonata, is a positive instrument constructed by D. Guiraud and J. Leguy on the model of Italian instruments of the eighteenth century. The register used here is the eight-foot bourdon. J.C. Veilhan Translation: David Laird SIX SONATAS, OP. 14 About 1740 a publication appeared bearing the title “VI Sonates Violoncelle Solo col Basso da d'Antonio Vivaldi Musico di Violino e Musico de’Concerti del Pio Ospidale [sic] della Pietà di Venezia gravé par Mlle Michelon, Paris”. There was no opus number to the music. Around the same time several publishers in Paris applied for licences to publish an Op.14 by Antonio Vivaldi, and in December 1740 an announcement appeared in the “Mercure de France” to the effect that six sonatas for cello solo by Vivaldi had been published. It is therefore assumed that the six sonatas are Vivaldi's Op. 14. Although they were published in Paris, they were perhaps written for a gifted cellist in Vivaldi’s orchestra at the Seminario musicale dell’Ospedale della Pietà. The primary function of a viola da gamba or cello player in the seventeenth century and the early eighteenth century was that of playing the bass line of all kinds of music, which was doubled by the left hand of the harpsichord player, who filled in chords over the bass. In this way the two players accompanied solo instruments, groups of instruments, and provided a support for all orchestral and vocal music. This unit of harpsichord and bass string instrument was the ”basso continuo.” The cello was first used to strengthen the bass part, particularly in the accompanying of vocal music, and in orchestral music, where the powerful violins drowned the tone of the gambas. However, in Italy (where the violin had been in common use since the first half of the seventeenth century, and for which solo sonatas were being written in the second half of the century) it was found that the reedy quality of the gamba provided insufficient support in continuo accompaniment, and that the more powerful cello balanced better with the violin. The cello was, in any case, a member of the same family of instruments as the violin, whereas the viola da gamba belonged to the older viol family. The emergence of the cello as a solo instrument and the appearance of a solo literature for the instrument was due to cello virtuosos such as Franceschini, Gabrielli, Bononcini, and the famous Caldara of Venice, who made composers aware of the potentials of this new and powerful instrument. While the basso continuo parts of a great deal of Corelli’s music are probably for gamba, he is said to have used the cello in solo work, for example in the concertino section of his concerti grossi. By Vivaldi’s time the cello in Italy had more or less replaced the gamba in all fields, and in his concertos he writes some important solo passages for it, e.g. in the Concerto Op. 3 No. 11 the concertino cello takes just as large a part as the two concertino violins in the rapid figurations and scale passages. Vivaldi”s interest in the instrument led him to write 27 concertos for solo cello. These sonatas fall into the sonata da chiesa (church sonata) category, all consisting of four movements which are alternately slow and fast. The sonata da chiesa and sonata da camera are usually distinguishable by the fact that in the latter the dance movements are named as such. Vivaldi, however, did not make much distinction between the two types. Significantly, the two fast movements of the sixth sonata have dance titles - after the Preludio comes an Allemande, and after the Largo, a Corrente. All other sonatas have fast movements of similar character to those of the sixth sonata, which could therefore equally well bear the same titles; further, the third movement of the fifth sonata could be called a Siciliano rather than simply Largo. The slow movements in general exploit the lyrical sustained sound of the cello, while the faster movements demonstrate its agility and powers of articulation. The total range of the sonatas is small, the highest note being A, an octave above the A string, while the lowest notes of the instruments are only touched upon and are not tonally exploited in any way. In the faster movements Vivaldi requires the player to make rapid string crossings in executing wide-ranging leaps - for example in the second movements of all the sonatas and in particular in that of the third sonata in A minor. Although there are several performing editions of Op. 14 available at present, the performers on this recording preferred to use an eighteenth-century manuscript of the sonatas. An edited edition of a Baroque sonata does not simply give the editor’s suggestions about the performances, but always includes a realisation of the bass line for the keyboard i.e. all the notes necessary for the performance of the piece are present. This has arisen solely because the practice of realising the accompaniment from a bass line fell into disuse towards the end of the eighteenth century. Since the present revival of Baroque music, keyboard players have begun to practise the art again. To realise an eighteenth-century bass line in the twentieth century not only requires a thorough grounding in keyboard harmony; it also requires a deep sympathy with the style of the Baroque era and a vast knowledge of the music of that time in order to make the turns of phrase and ornamental figurations sound authentic. In the realisation of a figured bass keyboard players and editors have two alternatives. They can either realise the bass line in such a way - as in Luigi Dallapiccola’s edition of Vivaldi’s cello sonatas - that a modern version is made of an eighteenth-century piece or, as in this recording, they can perform the basso continuo as authentically as possible by using a thorough knowledge of Baroque musical practice.