• PLEASE SUBSCRIBE • Thank you! •
Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741): Concerto for 3 Violins in F Major, RV 551
Allegro - Andante - Allegro
00:00 Opening
00:18 Allegro
04:56 Andante
07:06 Allegro
10:17 Credits
Rachell Ellen Wong, violin • Tatiana Chulochnikova, violin • Tomà Iliev, violin
Yvonne Smith, viola • Gretchen Claassen, violoncello • Gabriel Benton, harpsichord
Eddie Frank, video • Chris Landen, audio
American Bach Soloists • Jeffrey Thomas, Artistic Director
Filmed in April 2021 in the Gold Ballroom of the Palace Hotel (San Francisco, California).
How we made the video: americanbach.org/Videos-Backs...
Vivaldi's first musical instruction was on the violin, and the existence of some 230 concertos composed by him is sure evidence of his love for the instrument. Accordingly, it is easy to sense the joy that he must have felt while composing the Concerto for 3 violins, strings, and continuo in F major. It brought opportunities for creating unusual and colorful interaction of the three solo instruments that seem to have inspired Vivaldi greatly. At the outset of the first movement, each soloist takes a turn in the spotlight, but the interplay is always collaborative with all three parts frequently playing very similar passagework. The occasional differences usually amount to distinct but complimentary figurations assigned to the third violinist. Those moments tend to meld together the first and second violinist in high-energy accompaniments to the third player's forays. The middle movement treats the listener to a wonderful effect: one violinist plays a singing cantabile melody, another plays pizzicato notes across the entire range of the violin, and the other plays bowed arpeggios with the composer's instruction "con piomba" which can be translated as dance-like swooping. Overall, it creates a very engaging and lustrous sound. The final movement, in a triple meter, distributes the workload quite equally among the soloists who toss the ball around but combine near the end for a barrage of figurations and descending scales in the minor mode until a final and condensed restatement of thematic material from the movement's opening brings this ingenious concerto to its close.
© 2021, American Bach Soloists
American Bach Soloists (ABS) are leading performers in the field of Baroque music, dedicated to historically informed performances of Bach and his contemporaries. ABS provides meaningful, memorable, and valuable musical experiences for our audiences through inspiring performances and recordings, and it supports the preservation of early music through educational programs for students and emerging professionals. Under the leadership of co-founder and Music Director Jeffrey Thomas, the ensemble has achieved its vision of assembling the world’s finest vocalists and period-instrument performers to bring this brilliant music to life.
More about ABS - americanbach.org
Check out our recordings - americanbach.org/media
Please support our work - americanbach.org/support