A landmark Tafelmusik recording, Vivaldi con amore is the orchestra’s first with Music Director Elisa Citterio. This all-Vivaldi album showcases Citterio and members of the orchestra in concertos for violin, oboe, bassoon, and lute, underlining the level of virtuosity across the ensemble. Elisa Citterio is featured as violin soloist in Vivaldi’s love-themed concertos “L'amoroso” and “L'amato bene,” while Tafelmusik’s remarkable musicians—Cristina Zacharias, Patricia Ahern, Geneviève Gilardeau, and Julia Wedman, violins; John Abberger and Marco Cera, oboes; Dominic Teresi, bassoon, and Lucas Harris, lute, are featured as soloists in the vibrant concertos that complete the program, which opens with the Sinfonia from Vivaldi’s opera Ottone in villa. “In the collective imagination Vivaldi truly represents ‘l’italianità,’ or the Italian character. His music describes and evokes landscapes, states of mind, and characters in a very direct way. Vivaldi’s music speaks unambiguously to people’s hearts.” —Elisa Citterio
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REVIEW:
Citterio’s affinity for Vivaldi has become very clear in her short time with Tafelmusik. Her splendid playing always delights. Yet it is in her invitational style of leadership that she brings the orchestra to perform with precision, joy and sparkling musicality.
