Antonio Vivaldi's Opus Four 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 a lot of melodic cantabile flights and also a lot of figural passagework that often rises to a virtuosic level. The ensemble begins this concerto's opening Allegro with a happy and motoric theme that emphasizes triadic motifs. The solo outings seem to begin in mid-phrase and often feature figurally driven passagework. In the first three of the movement's four solo sections (all of which move over a discreet accompaniments) a violinist from the ensemble joins the official soloist in the spotlight. The subsequent Largo extends the first movement's happiness into a more contemplative shade through a solo cantilena that begins immediately and proceeds over a discrete accompaniment from the full ensemble. Another happy and vivacious tutti starts off the concluding Allegro, a movement rich with unexpected melodic turns. This tutti is unusually expansive, and the movement features only a single solo outing which emerges late in the going and features figural passage work over accompaniment from the basso continuo.

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