Modo Antiquo—The Young Vivaldi

The Young Vivaldi

Modo Antiquo

Sony/Deutsche Harmonia Mundi [69:21]

Cat: 88875127852

I’m in Vivaldi mode. In preparation for some concerts featuring his fabulous Op. 10 Flute Concertos, I have been researching their provenance. Many of Vivaldi’s hundreds of concertos (including Op. 10) were written for the girls of the Ospedale della Pietà, a combination of orphanage, convent and hospital where Vivaldi was a teacher. I’ll be visiting the Ospedale, now the Metropole Hotel, in Venice in September. 

This new recording was delivered to the office and considering my ‘mode’, I jumped right in. 

All the concertos and sonatas (including three receiving their first recording -- the Sonata in G major RV 820, the Concerto in A minor RV 522a, and the Sonata in A minor RV Anh. 107a.) are performed with expert musicianship and consummate style by an Italian group hitherto unknown to me. 

Modo Antiquo is filled with players that are happy to step into the spotlight and then back into the tutti orchestra with musical ease. Strings, woodwind and keyboards (splendid portative organ throughout) all combine to produce a fizz that is intoxicating. 

Photo credit: Modo Antiquo

The wonderful recording matches the quality of the playing. It’s difficult to integrate an organ (even a portable) into the tutti and make them all sound as one. And when the soloists ply their trade, they could not ask for a more enveloping yet detailed acoustic. 

Cloth ears suggest that Vivaldi composed 600 concertos once. This CD of early gems by Vivaldi proves that utterly false. Very highly recommended.