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Track(s) taken from CDA67553

Cello Concerto in G major, RV415

composer
doubtful attribution

Jonathan Cohen (cello), The King's Consort, Robert King (conductor)
Recording details: April 2005
Cadogan Hall, London, United Kingdom
Produced by Ben Turner
Engineered by Philip Hobbs
Release date: July 2006
Total duration: 9 minutes 53 seconds

Cover artwork: Venice by Moonlight (detail) by Henry Pether (fl1828-1862)
Private Collection / © Christie's Images / Bridgeman Images
 

Reviews

‘Cohen combines an easy and soulful tone with incisive precision and agility’ (Gramophone)

‘Cohen is an expressive player with a feeling for articulate phrasing who responds readily to the poetry of slow movements … the King's Consort under Robert King's direction from the harpsichord offers stylish and alert support throughout’ (BBC Music Magazine)

‘The playing … is first rate—phrases are beautifully wrought and each of the works is given a distinctive flavour. This is a recital to savour!’ (Early Music Review)

‘If there is any recording that might persuade our editor that there is some virtue to early music performance practice, this might be it. I find myself unusually involved by this release, in several respects, and I recommend it to your attention … the cello seems to have inspired him to write some of his deepest music—and I am not speaking registrally. This is a good selection from his 28 concertos for the instrument, performed with satisfying intensity’ (American Record Guide)

‘Cohen is an intelligent cellist … and in the slow movements he's a dream, fashioning an Adagio of deep, soulful beauty out of the simple materials provided in the early RV416. The uncomplicated orchestral playing provides the perfect backdrop for Cohen's graceful virtuosity, of which I'd certainly like to hear more’ (International Record Review)

‘Very delectable’ (The Times)

‘Cohen finds constant variety and individuality in these works’ (The Strad)

‘Lovely, extensive, crisp, melodic lines from The King's Consort strings … this album makes a sterling debut in my book’ (Audiophile Audition, USA)

‘Jonathan Cohen and Robert King make an excellent team, and the interplay with The King's Consort is often incisive and exciting. It's a fine disc. A second volume of Vivaldi's cello concertos would be most welcome’ (Classical Source)

‘Jonathan Cohen's performances are nothing short of phenomenal; his dazzling agility and artistic insight truly make the cello sing … a disc to relish and enjoy in excellent sound and exemplary annotations’ (Classical.net)
The cello concerto in G major, RV415 is a curiosity. At the time when the standard catalogue of Vivaldi’s music was established by Peter Ryom, its genuineness went unquestioned. After all, it comes from the Wiesentheid collection, which contains several clearly authentic sonatas and concertos by the composer. However, its style is so uncharacteristic of the composer, beyond the most basic specifications, that questions have arisen. For example, the fugue in alla breve metre that forms the finale has no counterpart among Vivaldi’s cello concertos and is in structural terms very unlike the few fugues in his violin concertos. The description ‘Siciliana’ is not used by Vivaldi as a heading for concerto movements in a slow 12/8 metre. The most likely explanation for the possible misattribution is that the manuscript proper, entitled in its continuo part ‘Concerto per camera a violoncello solo con strumenti’ (note the absence of a named author), was placed in error within a folder that had previously held a lost Vivaldi concerto described there as ‘Concerto con violoncello obligato di Signore Vivaldi Ex G#’. A mix-up is made more likely by the fact that Wiesentheid folders usually reproduce the wording of the enclosed manuscript’s title very closely.

from notes by Michael Talbot © 2006

Le concerto pour violoncelle en sol majeur, RV415 est une curiosité. Son l’authenticité était indubitable à l’époque où Peter Ryom établit son catalogue des œuvres de Vivaldi. Après tout, il provient du recueil de Wiesentheid, où figurent plusieurs sonates et concertos de Vivaldi de toute évidence authentiques. Mais, au-delà des spécifications les plus élémentaires, son style est si peu vivaldien que des interrogations sont nées. Ainsi la fugue sise dans le mètre alla breve, qui forme le finale, est-elle sans équivalent dans les concertos pour violoncelle de Vivaldi et, structurellement parlant, elle ressemble bien peu aux rares fugues des concertos pour violon du compositeur. Par ailleurs, Vivaldi n’intitule pas «Siciliana» des mouvements de concerto écrits dans un lent 12/8. La possible erreur d’attribution vient probablement du fait que le manuscrit, intitulé dans sa partie de continuo «Concerto per camera a violoncello solo con strumenti» (remarquez l’absence de toute mention d’auteur) fut placé par mégarde dans une chemise qui avait auparavant contenu un concerto de Vivaldi perdu, décrit comme étant un «Concerto con violoncello obligato di Signore Vivaldi Ex G#». La confusion est d’autant plus probable que les chemises de Wiesentheid reprennent en général très fidèlement les termes du titre du manuscrit qu’elles renferment.

extrait des notes rédigées par Michael Talbot © 2006
Français: Hypérion

Ein Kuriosum: das Cellokonzert in G-Dur, RV415. Als der Standardkatalog der Werke Vivaldis von Peter Ryom zusammengestellt wurde, blieb die Echtheit des Konzerts unbezweifelt. Schließlich stammte es aus der Wiesentheid-Sammlung, zu der mehrere authentische Sonaten und Konzerte des Komponisten gehören. Jedoch ist der Stil dieses Konzerts in vielerlei Hinsicht für Vivaldi so untypisch, dass verschiedene Fragen aufgeworfen worden sind. So hat zum Beispiel die Alla breve-Fuge, die das Finale bildet, keinerlei Pendant in den anderen Cellokonzerten Vivaldis und hat auch eine deutlich andere Struktur als die wenigen Fugen seiner Violinkonzerte. Zudem kommt „Siciliana“ bei Vivaldi als Satzbezeichnung in Solokonzerten bei einem langsamen 12/8-Rhythmus nicht vor. Die plausibelste Erklärung für die mögliche Fehlzuschreibung wäre, dass das Manuskript selbst, dessen Continuostimme den Titel „Concerto per camera a violoncello solo con strumenti“ trägt (zu beachten ist hierbei das Fehlen des Komponistennamens), versehentlich in eine Mappe geraten war, in der zuvor ein später verschollenes Konzert von Vivaldi mit dem Titel „Concerto con violoncello obligato di Signore Vivaldi Ex G#“ gewesen war. Auf den Wiesentheid’schen Mappen sind die Formulierungen der Manuskripttitel meist recht genau reproduziert, was eine Vertauschung umso wahrscheinlicher macht. Wie dem auch sei.

aus dem Begleittext von Michael Talbot © 2006
Deutsch: Viola Scheffel

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