Antonio Vivaldi's Op. 4 consists of a collection of a dozen concertos for violin, string orchestra, and basso continuo. Owing to some unusual and sometimes daring melodic and harmonic twists it carries the title La Stravaganza (The Extravaganza). The solo music includes many melodic flights, and much figural passagework that often rises to a virtuosic level. The ensemble starts off this concerto's opening Spiritoso movement with a motivically driven ritornello that features several unexpected melodic turns and a lively and animated mood that goes against the anticipated atmosphere of its minor modality. The soloist makes a proclamatory entrance into his first solo break, while the continuo sometimes imitates his gestures. The continuo supports the second solo passage with a line that is motivically related but not imitative, and both continuo and the full ensemble support the soloist in outings three and four. The subsequent Adagio follows without a break. Here sustained chordal passages from the ensemble frame a pensive and concerned cantilena that the soloist presents over support from the continuo. The ensemble gives out an earnest ritornello at the beginning of the concluding Allegro, and the soloist subsequently holds forth in four figurally driven solo passages.

© All Music Guide

Portions of Content Provided by All Music Guide.
© 2008 All Media Guide, LLC. All Music Guide is a registered trademark of All Media Guide, LLC.