This disc is a sampler of
Vivaldi discs released by France's Naïve label, and it's highly recommended to listeners who haven't yet given these recordings a try. The group of performers is pan-European, with French singers and Italian instrumentalists especially strongly represented, but a compilation like this brings home how well this label has done at forging a unified artistic vision. Its
Vivaldi indeed tends toward "furious," as the title proclaims; it is also garish, energetic, dynamically extreme, and in every way devoted to making
Vivaldi out as a rebel in his time. A virtue of this collection is that the listener gets the chance to sample some of Naïve's opera recordings, a major financial commitment that listeners may not be ready to make in the case of a little-known work like Tito Manlio. Sinfonias and other instrumental passages logically join with the opera arias in one direction; there are also good selections from some big but obscure
Vivaldi concertos, like the "Grosso Mogul" violin concerto. Sacred works such as the fabulously, well, kick-ass oratorio Juditha triumphans are also represented. The all-star cast of singers brings plenty of histrionics to
Vivaldi's music, but what impresses the listener most is how in most cases they are following the lead of the instrumentalists and their conductors, like
Rinaldo Alessandrini and
Ottavio Dantone, who are remaking the way
Vivaldi is experienced. Here's hoping that this useful collection spreads their work far and wide. The terrific cover gives a taste of Naïve's unique design concepts, and others are found inside the packaging. It is odd, however, that the full Naïve catalog, which has been included with other releases on the label, is not packaged with this one.