With Pietro Longhi’s famous Venetian rhino on the cover, this is an earthy, raw and brilliant response to some of Vivaldi’s most scintillating violin concertos. Amandine Beyer is clearly inspired by the composer’s dramatic skill, and makes the most of the pauses, leaps and virtuosic flourishes of the F major concerto (RV 282). With a nod to Il teatro alla moda, Marcello’s biting satire on Italy’s operatic excesses, Beyer’s feisty group Gli Incogniti includes a Sinfonia and a Ballo alongside reconstructions where bits (and in the case of RV 322 an entire violin part) are missing. The highlight is the sublime Andante that Vivaldi wrote for his pupil Chiara, with dreamy plucked strings, almost as if the waters of the canals are lapping all around.
