Of the new school of Italian authentic-instrument violinists who have moved the spotlight south from the Netherlands in High Baroque repertory, none has had more success than
Fabio Biondi. There are more purely daring interpretations of
Vivaldi, and more subtle ones. But
Biondi and his handpicked
Europa Galante ensemble send audiences away satisfied, even where historical performance remains a rarity. His performances are a great deal of fun, with big, booming outer movements taken at a breakneck clip that does nothing to impede his total mastery of the solos. In this excerpted set of concertos, published in London in 1728 as
Vivaldi's Op. 4,
Bondi's style is displayed with maximum effectiveness. The concertos have less obviously attractive tunes than the more famous L'estro armonico set or the Four Seasons concertos, replacing those with big blocks of sound that respond well to
Biondi's high-energy treatment. Sample especially the opening movement of the Violin Concerto in B flat major, RV 383a (track 1), where
Europa Galante keeps up with
Biondi in passagework that seems to distort the underlying pulse and take on its own rhythmic momentum. Plenty of thrills! An additional bonus is the presence of an unusual Concerto for violin, cello, strings, and continuo, RV 544, which features an invertible pair of solo parts (showing that
Vivaldi could even do contrapuntal trickery when he set his mind to it). Virgin Classics' sound in its
Biondi discs has a live church acoustic that puts one in mind of an indoor swimming pool, and it may not be to everybody's taste. In general, though, this is an excellent place to start for those curious about
Biondi or even about the entire revolution that has overtaken the performance of High Baroque instrumental music.