The majority of the more than 500 concertos of Antonio Vivaldi adhere to a somewhat standard format: a ritornello structure in which repetitions of the opening material, played by the ensemble as a whole, are separated by episodic passages featuring a single instrument or small instrumental group; this highlights the timbral and textural contrasts between the featured soloist(s) and the ensemble. Vivaldi composed a handful of concertos, however, in which there is no accompanimental orchestra. In these chamber concertos (23 of which have survived), a small instrumental ensemble performs both the tutti and the solo functions, articulating the structure by alternately projecting a featured instrument into the musical foreground and then subsuming it into the ensemble texture. The Chamber Concerto in D major, RV 95, was composed after this fashion and for a variable instrumental ensemble consisting of recorder or violin, oboe or violin, violin, bassoon, and basso continuo. The date of this composition, like that of much of Vivaldi's work, is unknown; no date is given in the manuscript and Vivaldi's style remains so consistent throughout his career as to offer few clues with regards to chronology. (The use of the recorder in this concerto, as opposed to later technological innovations such as the oboe, flute, or clarinet, might suggest dating the piece to the 1710s, but this is speculative.) The piece bears the subtitle "La Pastorella" and conveys a rustic charm throughout each of its three movements. The first-movement ritornello builds on a simple, three-bar phrase consisting of repeated notes punctuated by a quick leap that is offset between the upper and lower parts. This is slightly altered with each reappearance by interspersing a lingering trill from the recorder's first episode shifted to a minor mode or shortened to facilitate the expanding episodic passages. The intervening episodes vary widely in character, often emphasizing motivic interplay between the recorder and bassoon. The slow second movement, featuring the recorder alone with continuo, is at once idyllic and plaintive, with its lilting dotted-rhythmic contours, 12/8 meter, and ascending melodic leaps; as would be expected, it follows a straightforward binary form. The final movement combines features from the previous two, with the jaunty repeated notes from the first movement cast in a quickened 12/8 meter. Of particular note is the expansive cadenza passage above the bassoon's long pedal tone, which carries the piece to its final cadence.

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