Gods, Emperors, and Angels: Music by Vivaldi – La Serenissima, Chandler

Who are these Gods, Emperors and Angels in the title of the latest virtuoso vehicle for Adrian Chandler and his dazzling period-instrument band La Serenissima? Vivaldi was connected to many nobles on the European continent, foremost among them the widely cultured Holy Roman Emperor Charles IV to whom he dedicated his set of concertos titled La Cetra (The Lyre), thereby likening the emperor to the lyre-playing god Apollo. The theme continues with the oddly titled Concerto Conca (Conch Concerto), alluding to the use of the conch shell as a musical trumpet (particularly in the work’s first movement) and also to its use by Triton, son of Neptune and Amphitrite, and by Neptune’s attendants. The Angels are undoubtedly Vivaldi’s virtuoso female students at the Ospedale della Pietà, one of whom was described in a contemporary anonymous poem: ‘She plays the violin in such a way / that anyone hearing her is transported to Paradise / if indeed it is true that up there / the angels play like that.’

Delivering their eighth imaginative album for Avie, Chandler and his forces play like gods, emperors, and angels, indeed, further securing their exalted place in the realms of early music performance.