Performed by NZ Barok, directed by Graham McPhail
NZ Barok in St Luke's Church, Remuera Photo: screenshot ex YouTube
The concertos with a solo instrument by Vivaldi are reasonably well-known – especially the four violin concertos of The Four Seasons, of course.
Less well-known perhaps are his concertos for strings alone without soloist: so-called 'ripieno' concertos. In baroque music, ripieno (Italian for 'stuffing' or 'padding') designated the body of instrumentalists in an ensemble who didn't play any of the solo roles.
In Vivaldi's scores or in the original publications, these works are sometimes titled 'sinfonia'. They are among the early examples of the form that would become the symphony in due course.
Vivaldi wrote over 50 of them.
Recorded by RNZ Concert in St Luke's Church, Remuera, 2 May 2021
Engineer: Adrian Hollay; Producer: Tim Dodd
