Luogo e data di registrazione		Studio Lukaskirche, Dresden (Germania) - novembre/dicembre 1972 (Concerti für Viola d'amore) Studio Lukaskirche, Dresden (Germania) - 1970 (Concerti per molti stromenti) (Luogo e data non riscontrabili) - (Concerti für Violoncello)
	Registrazione: live / studio		studio
	Producer / Engineer		-
	Prima Edizione originale LP		Philips - 6747 100 - (2 LP's) - durata 53' 01" | 43' 50" - (p) 1973 - Analogico - (Concerti für Viola d'amore) Philips - 6500 242 - (1 LP) - durata 42' 37" - (p) 1971 - Analogico - (Concerti per molti stromenti) Philips - 9500 144 - (1 LP) - durata 43' 02" - (p) 1976 - Analogico - (Concerti für Violoncello)
	Note		Koproduktion mit WEB Deutsche Schallplatten Berlin, DDR/R.D.A. (LP's 1,2,3)

CONCERTOS FOR VIOLA D'AMORE The viola d’amore has occupied a restricted but exclusive position in musical history and practice. Compared with other string instruments there have been relatively few examples of the instrument - and even those differed from one another. It has never appeared collectively or in large numbers like the violin, viola, cello, or double-bass. Neither its construction nor its tone has ever been suitable for orchestral use; from the first its aristocratic character was recognised and it was regarded as distinctly a connoisseur’s instrument, to be used in solo roles and chamber music. The Italian name now normally used for the instrument known in France as “viole d’amour” and in Germany as “Liebesgeige” could lead to the erroneous supposition that it was invented by Italian instrument-makers. The viola d’amore, however, was developed in England, the classical home of the viol, where it was at first provisionally called the “violet.’ In the ”Syntagma Musicum” of 1619 Michael Praetorius, describing the "viola bastarda," connects it with the English "violet," and the viola d’amore may in fact be seen as a cross between instruments from quite different areas of musical culture. Around 1600 English merchants of the then recently formed East India Company, travelling in the Far East and especially in India, discovered previously unknown plucked and bowed instruments which, in addition to the strings which sounded when actively set in motion in the normal way by the fingers or with a bow, also had metal strings tuned to the same pitch which vibrated with the other strings purely through resonance. The delicate silvery sound produced by the passive vibration of these “sympathetic” strings had a mysterious and ethereal effect and so impressed the travellers that they brought instruments of this type back to England with them. There instrument-makers set about applying this new and interesting principle of aliquot strings (as they are now called) to the string instruments current at that time, the viols. Violins, which had reached England from Northern Italy, were also equipped with these aliquot strings, but it was the viola da braccia, in the alto register, which was found to be most suitable; from this instrument the viola d’amore may well have developed, reaching a more or less definitive form from the eighteenth century onwards. There followed a whole series of similar attempts, among which only the baryton, a bass instrument popular with amateurs in Southern Germany, attained more than historical importance, because Joseph Haydn wrote a considerable number of agreeable compositions at Esterháza for the instrument, which had sympathetic strings which could also be plucked by the thumb of the left hand. When viols thus acquired metal resonating strings, sometimes even outnumbering the actual bowed or plucked strings, players and instrument-makers were soon tempted to depart from the traditional tuning in thirds and fourths which had been so apt for the performance of the linear polyphonic melodies and was still cultivated in the English consort music of the early seventeenth century. The coming of the Baroque era brought an increasing awareness of the importance of the triad so that musicians wished to tune six active and six sympathetic strings in pure major or minor chords, producing an acoustic system enhanced by the hypnotic tonal effect of the sympathetic strings. The viola d’amore, tuned in pure triads, opened up a whole new technique. The use of many strings at once and of broken-chord figurations provided virtuoso effects extensively used by Antonio Vivaldi in eight concertos in which the viola d’amore is featured. The physical possibilities of the instrument, tuned to the common chord of the key of the composition in each case, are most successfully exploited in these Baroque instrumental works. Unlike his violin concertos, Vivaldi’s concertos for solo viola d’amore are subject to limitations of key which naturally stem from the fact that the strings had no fixed pitch and had to be tuned to whichever key was in use - which, with twelve strings, was a tedious business. In six of these eight concertos, in A major or minor, D major or minor, or, exceptionally, in F, Vivaldi himself precisely indicated the required tuning of the strings. Scordatura was the term used for the retuning of a string instrument contrary to the norm accepted for instruments like the violin and its deeper relatives, the viola and cello. It was a fairly common procedure in Baroque music. Vivaldi’s purely solo concertos for viola d’amore, four-part string orchestra, and continuo are all in three movements; between the vibrant outer movements the central movements are mainly marked Largo and their song-like melodies are left exclusively to the solo instrument. In these middle movements the viola d’amore is accompanied either by a fully written-out continuo part, an unharmonised line for violin and viola, or a homophonic body of strings scored in four parts; only in the A minor Concerto (RV 397) does this string orchestra also perform an introductory role and only in the Largo of the D major Concerto (RV 392) is the pure solo framed by independent string parts in a polyphonic style. The central movements are dominated by “horizontal” improvisation - pure melodic expression. Only the double-stopping in the Andante of the A major Concerto (RV 396) shows Vivaldi making limited use of the tonal possibilities of a six-stringed instrument tuned to a common chord. These possibilities are, however, fully exploited in many of the Allegro movements, in which Vivaldi uses arpeggio figurations and chords formed by playing several strings at once. This capacity for astounding nuances of timbre in an instrument with a relatively small tone is in keeping with the concerto-grosso structure underlying all the outer movements of the six purely solo concertos. Tutti and solo sections are carefully proportioned and follow each other in strict architectural balance. The laws of proportion govern the alternating tutti and solo passages in respect of length, tonal weight, scoring, and thematic material. In the A minor Concerto (RV 397) the tutti material bears a monumental stamp and is reduced to a formula of extreme brevity, while the solo section introduces motives giving the solo instrument free rein for virtuoso development. Although the solo writing poses extremely intricate problems for the viola d’amore player, this work shows particularly clearly the composer’s intention of allowing ”beginners” who can play only the simplest chords to participate in the tutti passages of a musically worthwhile piece. One may assume that his aims were educational. Vivaldi, who taught music in a girls’ orphanage in Venice, evidently wanted to let all his pupils, whether new or advanced, take part in the concerts which made Venice so attractive to the “tourists” of that era. Famed for their excellence, these concerts were the platform for the sensationally new form of the Baroque instrumental concerto. Vivaldi, the leading violinist-composer of his generation, may also have played the virtuoso solo viola d'amore  parts. The outer movements of the A major Concerto (RV 396) resemble those of many violin concertos in that the viola d'amore makes no use of its ability to sound on several strings at once. This concerto could be played on a violin instead, a fact confirmed by Vivaldi's omission of any instructions concerning scordatura when he wrote this composition out. This interchangeability of the concerto instrument was typical of Baroque music and applies also to the D minor Concerto (RV 394), which also lacks any indication of scordatura in its heading. In the last movement, however, we find double-stopping and arpeggio figuration which suit the chordal tuning of the viola d’amore better than the violin tuned in fifths. In the D minor Concerto (RV 395), even if one ignores the characteristic tone colour of the viola d’amore, interchangeability is questionable in view of the use in some passages of playing techniques exclusive to the viola d’amore. These include arpeggio figuration, some striking leaps, and the use of double-stopping to harmonise a continuo part consisting only of accompanying violins. The same characteristic impulse distinguished the D minor Concerto (RV 393) even more clearly, especially in the last movement, where a 24-bar pedal in the basses gives the viola d’amore complete freedom for a virtuoso display of its tonal attributes. In the D major Concerto (RV 392) the solo instrument not only supports the opening tutti with complete chords but employs double-stopping to interrupt the orchestral introduction with elegant echo effects; the extended solo sections present a veritable frenzy of figuration typical of the instruments virtuoso capabilities. In the final movement the viola d’amore reinforces the tutti with double-stopping, and the brilliant tonal effect of this technique also contributes to the unusual fascination of the solo passages. The gravely beautiful A minor Concerto (RV 397) is particularly appealing for its broad melodic spans, magical passages of double-stopping, and, especially in the finale, arpeggio figurations accessible only to a virtuoso. An intimate atmosphere pervades the D minor double concerto for viola d’amore and lute; the presence of the lute precludes full-blown tutti laid out on a large scale and this piece is therefore a chamber concerto framing the enchanting conversations of solo instruments concerned only with intimacy of sound. The heart of the composition is the Cantabile in which, apart from a few soft bass notes, the orchestra is silent. The F major Concerto (RV 97) is more like a sinfonia concertante than a solo concerto, as six solo instruments vie with each other above a shared continuo part, there being no string tutti at all. In this four-movement piece the viola d’amore, contending with two oboes, two horns, and a bassoon as equal partners, sometimes employs double-stopping to fill out or replace the continuo. In the Largo the work’s many voices are reduced to a trio of viola d’amore, oboe, and bassoon; a dancing vitality lends fascination to the finale. Altogether Vivaldi’s eight widely varied viola d’amore concertos constitute a whole world of music in themselves. Karl Grebe “CONCERTI CON MOLTI STROMENTI” The bombardment of Dresden in 1945, stands among the most heinous of politically “justified” war crimes. Photographs taken in 1936, show that the gardens, promenades, and beautiful buildings on both sides of the Elbe, looked not merely as they were known to Richard Strauss but as they were to many previous holders of his conductorship. The Saxon State Opera and Orchestra of his time had previously been the Royal Opera and Orchestra, and its conductor the Court Kapellmeister. Wagner, Weber, Hasse, and Schütz all held the office of Kapellmeister at Dresden, and Bach sought and obtained the title of Court Composer and directed music welcoming the Elector’s visit to Leipzig, where he was employed. Dresden’s musical repute has always been great - and still is; but during the first half of the eighteenth century, Saxony was a foremost claimant among the German States for pre-eminence in church, theatre, and orchestral music. Music linked Dresden with Venice, one of the few cities which rivalled its architectural beauty. Schütz, “the father of German music,” for instance, studied in Venice with Giovanni Gabrieli. Most German court orchestras were increased late in the seventeenth century (after Schütz’s death) in envy and admiration of the French court. The first orchestral repertory was of French suites or “ouvertures,” and at first many French musicians were imported. The enlarged Dresden orchestra was trained by the violinist Volumier; when he died in 1728 Pisendel took over the orchestra, accompanied his master to Venice, and, partly through his discipleship of Vivaldi, brought the Elector’s players to their summit of fame with the rise of the second orchestral repertory - concertos, first imported from Italy and then imitated and excelled by Germans. The Venetian three-movement concerto which conquered the German court orchestras after 1712 was the parent of the classical solo concerto. It differed radically from Corelli’s suite-like concerto grosso, its ancestor being the aria, a concerto for voice and orchestra. The replacement of solo voices by instruments naturally arose in Venice, that city which had first opened public opera theatres. Quantz, one of many Germans who studied and adapted the Venetian style, wrote a “recipe” for a concerto mentioning two operatic features: (1) “A splendid opening ritornello” comprising contrasted ideas with which to punctuate the solo sections; the whole ritornello will not recur until the finish unless it is also used (as in an aria) at the end of the exposition. (2) “An affecting adagio.” Quantz uses adagio to represent all slow middle movements. Even if short and not actually tragic the adagio must be “as touching as though it had words.” Who composed the prototype? Possibly Albinoni, but Vivaldi was the artist most responsible for its popularity outside Italy. His 12 concertos of 1712, “L’Estro armonico," Op. 3 were often reprinted and his many further publications gradually came to include wind instruments, solo and ripieno. Italy was regarded as training the finest violinists but the northern European orchestras were proud of their wind players. Fulfilling commissions under pressure, often when in poor health, Vivaldi sometimes rearranged concertos originally scored for string ensemble not merely for an orchestra including wind instruments but for solo or “group” wind instruments. Most of the Dresden works, however, do happen to include a solo violin part for Pisendel whom Vivaldi regarded as a friend and fellow composer, not simply as his violin pupil. Six concertos in the Dresden Library are inscribed “Fatto per il Signor Pisendel.” Not all Vivaldi’s music for Dresden is located there. After his death a hoard of orchestral parts was amassed by Count Durazzo, a patron of the ducal orchestra at Turin. Durazzo’s treasure was discovered in our own century and ultimately bought for the Turin Library by the banker Foà. Three concertos in these recordings were for the Saxon players, one of them (RV 576) being in the Turin collection. Interest in the Concerto in G minor (RV 557) lies in its interplay of groups and textures which must have been arresting long before the advent of the neo-Classical symphony; even at that time the solo violin part may not have been thought technically exacting but it still demands fine artistry. It was evidently intended to rest during the short slow movement, which calls for oboe or violin solo with a bass marked for "solo" bassoon. The many marked changes of instruments participating in the basso continuo shows that the composer was concerned with colour and an orchestra whose members were all worth the opportunity of distinction within a contrast of sonorities. Not knowing when the Concerto in C, RV 556 was commissioned we may imagine it to have been used on the feast of St. Lawrence in the church of that name. What remains of its façade suggests that it was planned on a large scale and probably boasted fine music from its scuola; but in fact it was never completed, and possibly Vivaldi’s music honoured not only its patronal festival but the dedication of some part of the church or its appointments. The “symphonic” slow introduction and the sumptuous scoring suggests ceremonial magnificence, and the key is one of the two commonly used for trumpets in Italy during the period. The concerto was evidently played by the Saxon orchestra, for the MS parts are at Dresden and include "2 clar" which may be interpreted as claren (two-key clarinets) or as clarini (trumpets). Franz Giegling decides for trumpets in the outer movements, with appropriate effect in a festal work; in the middle movement, however, Vivaldi requires a “clar” to join in the bass. It is worth noting that this movement is not a pathetic adagio but that, despite its minor key and the indication cantabile, it maintains the ceremonial dignity of the whole work. In the Concerto in G minor, RV 576, a dedication to the King of Saxony is to be found on the Turin MS, which has parts for two flutes. The Dresden copies call the work Concerto à 10 obbligati and include parts for two horns but not for flutes. Except in the slow movement, where only the violin solo is eloquently lyrical and the rest purely accompanimental, the leading oboe is also a prominent soloist, sometimes making a duo-concertante texture with the violin. Yet this is a “group” rather than a solo concerto, and we may apply to it the comments written about the other G minor for Dresden. Here again Vivaldi’s concern for contrast extends even to the bass. The list of instruments for the Concerto in C, RV 588 poses problems: "Concerto con due flauti, due tiorbe, due mandolini, due salmò, due violini in tromba marina." A strong harpsichord can discharge the same percussive functions as a bass theorbo or archlute, and easily perform the exposed decorative figures. There are only few exposed passages - i.e. not doubling other instruments - for the two mandolins; but their exact doubling of the violins in the middle movement has an unusual effect not easily produced by substitutes. Vittorio Negri uses basset horns for the mysterious salmò, which seem to have been obsolescent reed instruments, a supposition borne out by a stop of the same designation on Italian organs which engages reed pipes of gentler tone than a fagotto stop. The interpretation of violini in tromba marina may allow alternatives but the words mean ”violins to sound like the tromba marina,” a late medieval novelty with a single string stretched over a tapering body six feet long. The hand lightly touched the string without stopping it, and the bow played near the point of touch to produce only harmonics. Possibly Vivaldi used two of these instruments in this concerto, but one cannot but call the possibility very remote! Arthur Hutchings CONCERTOS FOR CELLO Vivaldi’s cello concertos were almost certainly the first of their kind to be written. True, the cello appears as a solo instrument in certain sonatas and sinfonias of the Bologna school in the late seventeenth century, these works being the stylistic antecedents of the concerto. One also sees independent cello parts (generally elaborations of the continuo part) in concertos written around 1700 by such composers as Albinoni and Torelli. But Vivaldi seems to have been the first composer to place the obbligato cello on the same footing as the soloist in a violin concerto and to exploit its lyrical potential as well as its capacity for agile passage-work. It is uncertain whether Vivaldi played the cello himself. He was appointed violin master at the Ospedale della Pietà in the autumn of 1703. This post very probably entailed the teaching of other instruments belonging to the violin family. From the Pietà's records we know that from 1704 Vivaldi was also responsible for teaching the viola all’inglese (or “English violet”), an obsolete family of instruments similar to the viola d’amore, which included a bass instrument equivalent to the cello. By the end of the decade he was certainly writing cello concertos. One of the works on this record (RV 420) is among the compositions by Vivaldi copied in Venice during the winter of 1708-9 by the young German musician Franz Horneck, who was in the service of a brother of Count Rudolf Franz Erwin von Schönborn, a keen cellist. Perhaps the Count commissioned the works from Vivaldi, who, we must remember, had not yet had any concertos published (Op. 3, “L’Estro armonico,” came out in 1711). Some points of style identify RV 420 as an early work: the derivation of the entire musical material from a few stereotypes, the pulsating rhythms, and the uniformly simple accompaniment (on continuo alone) to the soloist. Most of Vivaldi’s 27 concertos for a single cello seem, by virtue of their style, to belong to a somewhat later period. During his sojourn at Mantua (1718-20) Vivaldi must have come across a gifted cellist, for his opera “Tito Manlio” (1719) contains an aria with an intricate cello obbligato which hints at possible concertos. In the following year the Pietà, with which Vivaldi still retained links, appointed as cello master the Reverend Antonio Vandini. Vandini was a celebrated virtuoso whom Charles Burney heard on his visit to Padua in 1770. Burney makes the interesting observation that Vandini held the bow “in the oldfashioned way with the hand under it” - that is, in the manner of the bass viol (to which some double-bass players still adhere today). Vandini did not stay long at the Pietà: he was succeeded in 1722 by the Reverend Bernardo Aliprandi, whose contract was renewed annually until 1728. It is highly likely that Vivaldi wrote several concertos for Vandini, Aliprandi, and their pupils, among which could be RV 418, and the possibly slightly earlier RV 417. The first two works offer a great contrast in style to RV 420: Their material is much more diversified, particularly in regard to rhythm and the rate of harmonic movement, and the accompaniment to the soloist is less uniform. Vivaldi often has recourse to the bassetto, a “high” bass part played on upper strings an octave above the normal pitch, sometimes even momentarily crossing over the solo part. This device, which earned ”a certain master in ltaly" (clearly Vivaldi) a reprimand from C. P. E. Bach in his treatise on keyboard instruments, was increasingly used by Vivaldi in his later years as an alternative to continuo accompaniment. In the slow movement of RV 414 the bass line is split up into half-bar fragments taken alternately by continuo and upper strings - an imaginative variation. Once or twice in RV 414 and 418 he uses the full orchestra to provide a rich harmonic background to the soloist. A relatively late date for RV 414 is also suggested by the existence of this work in a version for flute (RV 438). It is impossible to establish from an examination of the two concertos which version was composed first, even discounting the very real possibility that both are independent reworkings of a lost concerto. Nevertheless, it is unlikely that many years separate the two versions.. It is fairly certain that Vivaldi’s interest in the flute dates from the late 1720's, as the first flute obbligato in his surviving operas appears in “Orlando furioso” (1727), and the Pietà appointed its first flute master in 1728. The slow movement, for cello and continuo alone, of RV 417, may well have been composed originally for a lost cello sonata, since similar movements in Vivaldi’s violin concertos often turn out to have been borrowed from violin sonatas. What makes the cello such an interesting solo instrument in Vivaldi’s hands is the fact that it is really two instruments (tenor and bass) in one. Alternation between the two registers gives the impression sometimes of dialogue, at other times of polyphony. None of Vivaldi’s other solo parts (except, possibly, those for bassoon) are as eloquent as these: it is as if deep instruments evoked his deepest feelings. Michael Talbot