Vivaldi: Concerti per violino XI "Per Anna Maria"

Anna Maria may not have been Vivaldi’s muse exactly—he was a priest—but she was certainly his most talented pupil, for whom he wrote several violin concertos and added many more to her repertory. Fabio Biondi has woven his programme around these works, echoing elements of her exceptional virtuosity. We are thrown in at the deep end with the first concerto, where the impetuous soloist doesn’t bother waiting for the orchestra but launches straight in, Biondi bouncing his bow boisterously over two strings at once. Anna comes vividly back to life in the slow movement of the Violin Concerto in C Major, RV 179a, her own added ornamentation sounding wonderfully spontaneous in Biondi’s hands. The players of Europa Galante relish Vivaldi’s propulsive rhythms, bringing a particularly percussive touch to the calls of the post horn throughout the Violin Concerto in B-Flat Major, RV 363.