The album of the day: Giuliano Carmignola, “Venetian Concert”

Giuliano Carmignola, “Venetian Concert” (Cd Archiv 002894745172)

The all-Italian taste of extravagance, of instrumental surprises, of proceeding capriciously at the mercy of compositional inspiration through a style dominated by a total and transcendental instrumental virtuosity is typical of the Venetian baroque school, of which this stupendous album provides several examples composed by Vivaldi, Tartini and Locatelli; not all the composers featured in the album were born in Venice (Locatelli, for example, was from Bergamo and studied in Rome) but they completely refer to the style that prevailed in the lagoon city in the 17th century.

Liveliness of performance, extreme development of the concertante role in the instruments, harmonic daring are just some of the characteristics that run through Antonio Vivaldi’s work, and are promptly confirmed by the two concertos for violin, strings and continuo that open the album, entrusted to the greatest contemporary baroque violinist, Giuliano Carmignola (here very well supported by the Venice Baroque Orchestra conducted by Andrea Marcon). The first of them, called “A due cori in B flat major”, involves the division of the orchestra into two sections allowing the author to differentiate the dynamic planes and colors even more (the skill as an instrumentalist that Vivaldi possessed is supreme a subject still not explored in depth by musicology) who accompany the soloist, as always engaged in very difficult evolutions on his instrument, but to whom Vivaldi also provides wonderful opportunities for singing, as in the theme of the “Andante in forma di Chaconne”. No less beautiful is the “Concerto in E minor” that follows, full of unexpected chromaticisms and melodic lines of perennial freshness that once again make Vivaldi’s genius stand out above all his contemporaries.

Even without reaching these compositional heights, Tartini and Locatelli’s concerts are beautiful, inspired in every movement, and it is interesting to be able to compare the different approach that these composers had towards the concert form. If in Vivaldi theatricality is taken for granted, in the other two authors we find greater modesty in the thematic exposition and a capacity for formal elaboration that looks towards the future, without ever losing sight of the taste for lines of absolute singability and robustness contrapuntal style typical of this musical style.

Carlo Boccadoro, composer and conductor, was born in Macerata in 1963. He lives and works in Milan. He collaborates with soloists and orchestras in different parts of the world. He is the author of numerous books on musical topics.

This text is taken from “Lunario della musica: A record for every day of the year” published by Einaudi, courtesy of the author and the publisher.