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There is not a great deal to be said about this disc. Delos accord the performances Technicolor attention: close, vivid and dramatic and you could hardly extricate these qualities from the performances as well. The works are already so well known and of course have been recorded countless times. Suffice to say that these forays fall into the hyper-romantic class. They are unlikely to appeal to the HIP 'church'. It is perhaps interesting to note that these concertos (the whole of the Op. 8 Il Cimento) were published in 1725 and were dedicated to one of Vivaldi's pupils: Count Venceslas von Morzin, a Bohemian patron of the composer.

Quarta has a ripe and fulsome tone and it is deployed as if he were playing the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto (now, it would be good to hear him in that work or in the Elgar or the Karlowicz). He has previously recorded for Dynamic the six Paganini concertos (2 CDs). The harpsichord in this case is by Kevin Fryer after Ioannes Ruckers, 1624. I feel somewhat short-changed when I see the total playing time at considerably less than an hour and notice that timing is not declared on the outside of the sealed disc. Otherwise if you are looking for a glitzy velour style, with brilliance in abundance, slow slow-movements and 'hyper' faster movements your mission is now complete.

Rob Barnett

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