Vivaldi Violin Concertos

The Vivaldi Collection at the National University Library in Turin, Italy, contains over 450 manuscripts by Vivaldi, many of them autographs.  These are the scores and sketches that were in Vivaldi’s private library in his home at the time of his death.  The Vivaldi Edition, a project of musicologist Alberto Basso and the recording label Naïve, aims to record all of these works.  This new recording is Volume 40 in this series, titled Tesori del Piemonte (Treasures of the Piedmont).

Among all these works are some 90 violin concertos, and this third installment in the violin series features a performer who started his musical studies on the mandolin, Duilio M. Galfetti.  In the late 1980s he began a collaboration with the ensemble Il Giardino Armonico, and in 1997, founded, with Diego Fasolis, the group known as I Barocchisti.

This ensemble, based in Lugano, on the Swiss-Italian border, brings together from four to forty musicians at a time, depending on the repertoire.  Their sound is reminiscent of the Italian Baroque ensembles such as Fabio Biondi’s Europa Galante and the Venice Baroque Orchestra, but with a slightly gentler edge.  Still, these fine performances bring yet another voice to the HIP (historically-informed performance) Vivaldi revival chorus.  Galfatti’s violinistic touch is both fierce and soothing, and he’s very well-matched to the Baroquists.