Vivaldi: Violin Concertos

Johann Georg Pisendel, the future concertmaster of the famous Dresden court orchestra, was fourteen years old when he first came into contact with the music of Antonio Vivaldi. And he immediately threw himself into the material: whatever compositions by the Venetian fell into his hands, he copied out for his own use in order to practise on the violin, which he later mastered himself. When he traveled to Italy as part of his sovereign's entourage, he met the "prete rosso", who liked the visitor so much that he gave him several concertos and sonatas "fatto per M. Pisendel" to take home with him. The new production by the Arte dell'Arco ensemble with its soloist and director Federico Guglielmo brings together five of the highly virtuoso, almost explosive concerti to create a rousingly inspired testimony to a historic artistic friendship.