Vivaldi: Coucou, RV 335 Liner Notes

Antonio VIVALDI

Coucou, RV 335

“The Cuckoo”

Israel Chamber Orchestra

Shlomo MINTZ, violin & conductor

Antonio VIVALDI

Violin Concerto in A Major, RV 335 "The Cuckoo"

I. Allegro 04:07

II. Largo 01:40

III. Allegro 03:46

SHLOMO MINTZ, Violin & Conductor

ISRAEL CHAMBER ORCHESTRA

ISRAEL CHAMBER ORCHESTRA:

Music Advisor: Shlomo Mintz

Managing Director: Eli Doron

MEMBERS OF THE ORCHESTRA:

First violin: Eliahu Shulman*, concertmaster; Haya Livni, Meir Lakunishok, Vadim Tsibulevsky, Vladimir Reider, Arie Bar-Droma Second violin: David Braude*, Simon Draiblate***, Bertha Yunger, Gad Kogan, Rina Gutkin, Serge Bogin Viola: Gad Lewertoff, , Orna Godlewsky), Klara Nusovitzki

Cello: Zinovi Kherif, Lev Tolchinsky, Israel Berkovich Continuo Cello: Emanuel Gruber* Bass: Orit

Zelniker, Continuo Harpsichord: Mayako Sone *Principal Player; **Co-Principal; ***Asst. princpal

Blithe proficiency can be self-defeating If Antonio Vivaldi had only written four violin concertos The Four Seasons, " let us say he would likely be remembered as one of the most original and engaging composers of the Baroque era, and each surviving work would be savored, cherished

Instead, Vivaldi, the consummate professional, churned out concerto after concerto after concerto. They were expertly made idiomatic, melodious and entertainingbut the cloth from which they were fashioned was not varied enough for some of the composer's critics. Who among us has not heard the old line (often attributed to the Italian modernist composer Luigi

Dallapiccola) that Vivaldi did not write 600 concertos but, rather, the same concerto 600 times?

Formula is not in itself a bad thing: the vast majority of Bach's cantatas, Shakespeare's Sonnets, Mozart's symphonies and Dickens' novels are, to one degree or another, formulaic. " Indeed, there is a comfort to routine: few people would really want to face a Brave New World every day of their lives And so it is with art. The late works of Richard Strauss, for example, break no "new ground" and yet, to many of us, they grow more wonderful every year. Meanwhile, nothing dates more quickly than yesterday's

radical experiments (if nobody has ever thought to write a piece for three toasters before, there may be a very good reason). Vivaldi's creative genius was not on a level with that of Bach, Mozart or Strauss, but it was considerable all the same. The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians calls him "the most original and influential Italian composer of his generation" and continues: "He laid the foundations for the mature Baroque concerto. His contributions to musical style, violin technique and the practice of orchestration were substantial, and he was a pioneer of orchestral program music. ”

Let us not forget Bach's own tribute to his colleague. If imitation really is the sincerest form of flattery, transcription cannot be far behind; and Bach made memorable keyboard arrangements of a number of Vivaldi concertos We are just out of a prim and rather puritanical era as regards transcriptions -- the phrase “BachStokowski" is still an epithet in some circles -- but musical fashions change, and I suspect that a new generation of players will rediscover Bach-Vivaldi in the not-toodistant future.

It should be noted that Vivaldi's current worldwide popularity is a fairly recent development. Half a century ago, he was

virtually forgotten; if somebody had told

David Hall, R.D. Darrell, Irving Kolodin or any of the other authors of those valuable pioneering record guides of the '40s and '50s, that the day would come when there would be more than 75 versions of The Four Seasons" among which to choose, the response would have been astonishment and likely disbelief. And yet it has come to pass- there is no end to sight

But there is more to Vivaldi than The Four Seasons, " as any listener to these compact discs will quickly discover. And, to belabor the obvious, listening to his violin concertos- really listening, rather than letting them pour out as background music -- provides rewards.

First, Vivaldi understood the violin with a rare acuity. He was one of the finest players of his day: a 1715 description of his playing by one Herr von Uffenbach remains lively reading today: "Vivaldi performed a solo accompaniment admirably and at the end he added a fantasy that quite confounded me, for such playing has not been heard before and never can be equalled He placed his finger breadth from the bridge so that there was hardly room for the bow. He played thus on all four strings, with imitations and at unbelievable speed. Everyone was astonished... "

Second, Vivaldi is not only a tidy craftsman but a great entertainer as well. He commands attention but rarely insists. His melodies are good ones and, if he relies rather heavily on sequences in many of his concertos, those sequences are good ones, too And, despite a strict sense of form, Vivaldi is among music’s first colorists. Indeed, one might almost call him an early impressionist (what other composer has managed to incorporate imitations of barking dogs, thunder and lightning, and the joys of a warm fireplace within his violin concertos?).

One final quote, this one from the late musicologist Boris Schwarz, whose "Great Masters of the Violin" is superb criticism authoritative, personal, judicious and tender, perhaps the model study of an instrument and its practitioners:

"At his best, Vivaldi is a composer of genius, bursting with inventiveness and imagination, orchestrally far ahead of his time, " Schwarz wrote. "Nor was he satisfied to compose primarily for the violin as was the custom among violinist-composers of his time His restless imagination carried him far beyond such narrow limits... It is as an instrumental composer that Vivaldi is incomparably alive and touched by genius."

-Tim Page

Vivaldi had been a virtuoso and a composer of programmatic music for many years. Eleven years before the Opus 11 was published, an advertisement appeared in the London Post Man on December 21, 1717 announcing the publication of the "Vivaldi Cuckoo Concerto" by Daniel Wright. This Concerto in A Major, AV 335 was to become the fashionable Vivaldi work in England and was reprinted several times. Octave jumps, trills and energetic semiquavers often located in the highest range are performed by the soloist to imitate the singing bird. An ornithological problem appeared, however, between Venice and London In a copy of the work kept in Ancona, the same piece, minus the Largo, is entitled Il Rossignolo (the nightingale), in which the song seems more realistic, if one judges by the violin motifs, than those of the problematic cuckoo!

-Roger-Claude Travers

SHLOMO MINTZ

Shlomo Mintz appears as a guest artist with the world's most prestigious orchestras and conductors, as well as in recitals and chamber music concerts in the music capitals of Europe, North America and the Far East. Regarded as one of the foremost violinists of our time, Mintz added a new dimension to his artistic activities in 1989 when he became Music Advisor to the Israel Chamber Orchestra. He spends at least

12 weeks each season with this ensemble of 40 as conductor, mentor, soloist and chamber music partner Since assuming artistic leadership of the Israel Chamber Orchestra, he has broadened its repertoire, instituted additional concert series, attracted players, and expanded the Orchestra's touring activities in major cities throughout Europe and North America

As a violinist, Mintz has won three Grand Prix du Disque awards for his recordings, which reflect the breadth of his musical interests.

They include music of Bach, Beethoven, Brahms, Paganini, Mendelssohn, Prokofiev, Dvorák and Sibelius.

Shlomo Mintz was born in Moscow in 1957 and two years later emigrated with his family to

Israel, where he studied with the renowned llona Feher He made his concerto debut at age 11 with Zubin Mehta and the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra. Under the auspices of the America/lsrael Cultural Foundation, Mintz continued his studies in the United States with

Dorothy DeLay at the Juilliard Schol and with Isaac Stern He made his Carnegie Hall debut at the age of 16 with William Steinberg and the Pittsburgh Symphony.

Shlomo Mintz plays a Michel Angelo Bergonzi violin from 1745 and a 1773 violin by Giuseppe Contreras

ISRAEL CHAMBER ORCHESTRA

The Israel Chamber Orchestra was founded in 1965 by Gary Bertini, who served as its Artistic Director and Conductor for 10 years. He was succeeded by Luciano Berio, Rudolf Barshai and Sir Neville Marriner, among others

Many renowned artists have performed with the Orchestra throughout its history, including Mstislav Rostropovich, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Isaac Stern, Itzhak Perlman, Pinchas Zukerman, Shlomo Mintz, Yefim Bronfman, Krzystof Penderecki, Christoph Eschenbach, Paul Tortelier and Heinz Holliger.

The Orchestra's repertoire ranges from early

Baroque to contemporary music, with special emphasis on violin concertos The Orchestra attaches vital importance to fostering music among young people, and its series "For the Entire Family" has been acclaimed both by young audiences and professional music critics.

In addition to its regular subscription series in

Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and Haifa, the Israel

Chamber Orchestra appears throughout Israel and takes part in productions of the New Israeli Opera.

The ICO has toured throughout the music capitals of Western Europe, the United States, Canada, Japan and Hong Kong, and has partic e tn prestigious festivals including those of Salzburg, Montreux, Helsinki, Stresa, the Canary islands, Bergen and Salerno.

In 1989, Tel Aviv Mayor Shlomo Labat, also serving as Chairman of the ICO's board of directors, announced that Shlomo Mintz, renowned member of the international elite of violin players, had accepted the appointment as Music Advisor and Principal Conductor of the Israel Chamber Orchestra.

Mintz has committed to a schedule and involvement with the ICO that includes chamber music performances with members of the ensemble, solo appearances in concerts With the full Orchestra, conducting, and guidance in artistic development.

The Israel Chamber Orchestra is sponsored by the Ministry of Education and Culture and the Tel Aviv Municipality, and is generously supported as well by Israeli and International "Friends of the Israel Chamber Orchestra. "