This disc marks the first installment of what the liner notes promise will be "a dedicated
Vivaldi Project to understand and explore
Vivaldi's genius." Another series devoted to
Bach is planned, so hold on to your hats -- the bad boy of British violin playing is bringing his outsized ego and considerable skills back to Baroque music.
Kennedy intends not just to reinterpret old favorites but also to unearth music that is rarely performed, so here listeners will get the played-to-death Four Seasons concertos together with a moderately well-known work, the two-violin Concerto in A minor, Op. 3/8, and one that is quite unfamiliar, the Concerto in D major for two violins, RV 511. The last-named is a late work, musically discontinuous and quite operatic in conception.