VIVALDI 8 Volume 2 La Serenissima

• Antonio Vivaldi (1678 - 1741): Violin Concerto in D Minor, Op. 8 No. 7, RV 242:
• 1 Vivaldi: Violin Concerto in D Minor, Op. 8 No. 7, RV 242: I. Allegro 03:15
• 2 Vivaldi: Violin Concerto in D Minor, Op. 8 No. 7, RV 242: II. Largo 02:04
• 3 Vivaldi: Violin Concerto in D Minor, Op. 8 No. 7, RV 242: III. Allegro 03:11
• Violin Concerto in G Minor, Op. 8 No. 8, RV 332:
• 4 Vivaldi: Violin Concerto in G Minor, Op. 8 No. 8, RV 332: I. Allegro 03:29
• 5 Vivaldi: Violin Concerto in G Minor, Op. 8 No. 8, RV 332: II. Largo 02:57
• 6 Vivaldi: Violin Concerto in G Minor, Op. 8 No. 8, RV 332: III. Allegro 03:53
• Violin Concerto in D Minor, Op. 8 No. 9, RV 236:
• 7 Vivaldi: Violin Concerto in D Minor, Op. 8 No. 9, RV 236: I. Allegro 03:15
• 8 Vivaldi: Violin Concerto in D Minor, Op. 8 No. 9, RV 236: II. Largo 02:24
• 9 Vivaldi: Violin Concerto in D Minor, Op. 8 No. 9, RV 236: III. Allegro 03:01
• Violin Concerto in B-Flat Major, Op. 8 No. 10, RV 362 "La Caccia":
• 10 Vivaldi: Violin Concerto in B-Flat Major, Op. 8 No. 10, RV 362 "La Caccia": I. Allegro 03:27
• 11 Vivaldi: Violin Concerto in B-Flat Major, Op. 8 No. 10, RV 362 "La Caccia": II. Adagio 02:36
• 12 Vivaldi: Violin Concerto in B-Flat Major, Op. 8 No. 10, RV 362 "La Caccia": III. Allegro 02:51
• Violin Concerto in D Major, Op. 8 No. 11, RV 210:
• 13 Vivaldi: Violin Concerto in D Major, Op. 8 No. 11, RV 210: I. Allegro 05:14
• 14 Vivaldi: Violin Concerto in D Major, Op. 8 No. 11, RV 210: II. Largo 02:56
• 15 Vivaldi: Violin Concerto in D Major, Op. 8 No. 11, RV 210: III. Allegro 04:51
• Violin Concerto in C Major, Op. 8 No. 12, RV 178:
• 16 Vivaldi: Violin Concerto in C Major, Op. 8 No. 12, RV 178: I. Allegro 03:21
• 17 Vivaldi: Violin Concerto in C Major, Op. 8 No. 12, RV 178: II. Largo 02:51
• 18 Vivaldi: Violin Concerto in C Major, Op. 8 No. 12, RV 178: III. Allegro 03:40
• Concerto for Strings in G Minor, RV 155:
• 19 Vivaldi: Concerto for Strings in G Minor, RV 155: I. Adagio 02:08
• 20 Vivaldi: Concerto for Strings in G Minor, RV 155: II. Allegro 01:43
• 21 Vivaldi: Concerto for Strings in G Minor, RV 155: III. Largo 03:46
• 22 Vivaldi: Concerto for Strings in G Minor, RV 155: IV. Allegro 02:59
• Concerto for 2 Violins in D Major, RV 512:
• 23 Vivaldi: Concerto for 2 Violins in D Major, RV 512: I. Allegro molto 03:17
• 24 Vivaldi: Concerto for 2 Violins in D Major, RV 512: II. Largo 04:33
• 25 Vivaldi: Concerto for 2 Violins in D Major, RV 512: III. Allegro 03:01
• Total Runtime 01:20:43

Info for VIVALDI 8 Volume 2

Baroque giants La Serenissima return with VIVALDI 8 – VOLUME 2, following their previous instalment in February 2025 of Vivaldi 8 Volume 1. Recognised for ‘whipping up a storm with Vivaldi’, La Serenissima is ‘one of Britain’s best-loved chamber orchestras’ (The Telegraph) known for their outstanding performances, championing a host of neglected Italian baroque composers. Uniquely, the group’s entire repertoire is edited from source material by founder and violinist, Adrian Chandler OSI.

Although the early history of the instrumental concerto owes significant debts to composers such as Albinoni, Gregori, Taglietti and Torelli, there can be little doubt that the greatest credit of all is due to Antonio Vivaldi.

Born in Venice, Vivaldi was a priest, a teacher, an impresario, a virtuoso violinist and a composer, from whose pen flowed a prodigious amount of music, exceeded only by a handful of composers such as Telemann. During his lifetime, he composed around 500 concertos, mostly for a single soloist with an accompaniment of strings and continuo; the bulk of these were probably written for—or at least were performed in—the chapel of the Ospedale della Pietà, the Venetian foundling hospital which provided Vivaldi with significant periods of employment throughout his career. Concertos for a single soloist—or even with no soloist at all—would suffice for most services held in the chapel, but sometimes the occasion demanded something a little more celebratory. For special religious festivals, Vivaldi composed either grandiose solo concertos or concertos with more than one soloist. The largest group of these works is a body of around 40 concertos written for identical pairs of instruments with a further 15 for contrasting instruments such as violin and organ, violin and oboe, and violin and cello; from this latter group, only three—for viola d’amore and lute, oboe and bassoon and for oboe and cello—survive in single examples.

His earliest examples of the double concerto are to be found in his 1711 publication L’estro armonico. This set of concertos took Europe by storm and influenced composers such as Bach, Graupner and Telemann who composed many works in a similar vein. Oddly, it seems that Italy was rather reluctant to follow suit; the only Italian composers—to my knowledge—who produced works that treat the soloists as near-equals are Albinoni, Bigaglia, the Marcello brothers, Torelli and Zavateri, though none of these composers produced double concertos in any great quantity. Brescianello, Tartini and Valentini left no surviving examples at all.

“After being obsessed by the composer and his music world for more than 30 years, Chandler by now is Vivaldi incarnate” (The Times)

La Serenissima
Adrian Chandler, conductor

La Serenissima
Founded in 1994 by violinist Adrian Chandler, La Serenissima is now recognised as the UK’s leading exponent of the music of eighteenth century Venice and connected composers. Uniquely, we present world-class musical performances in concert and recording where all the research and editorial work is our own. Described by Gramophone Magazine as having ‘a glorious and all-too-rare ability to make one’s pulse race afresh with every new project’ we have been praised for our ‘fresh approach’ (BBC Music Magazine), ‘dazzling inventiveness’ (The Strad Magazine) and singled out for our ‘difference in attack’ from other orchestras (The Independent).

We delight in bringing great baroque music to the widest possible audience through our trademark mix of ‘blockbuster’ musical works and unknown gems; through live performances, talks and workshops; and through our recordings which are available to all. We’ve championed a plethora of neglected works by composers ranging from Dall’Abaco to Composer X and have also brought to life Vivaldi’s operas Catone in Utica, Giustino, La Fida Ninfa, L’Olimpiade, Ottone in villa and Tito Manlio.

La Serenissima has appeared at many of the UK’s leading festivals including the Bath Bach, Bath International, Beverley, Buxton, Cambridge Summer, Chelsea, Cheltenham, Lichfield, Ryedale, South Bank, Warwick and York Early Music, and at venues including Bridgewater Hall, St George’s Bristol, Snape Maltings, Cadogan Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall and Wigmore Hall. We have given concerts for Music in the Round and leading cultural tours operator Martin Randall Travel; we have also received support from Arts Council England for UK touring projects Vivaldi: The Red Priest and The Four Seasons. We have performed abroad in Belgium, Denmark, Estonia, Germany, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Malta, Mexico and Spain to great acclaim. During 2016/17 we completed our first ever residency at St John’s Smith Square entitled The Grand Tour which incorporated six ground-breaking programmes of music from the Italian States.

Since we started making records (in 2003), La Serenissima has been universally applauded by publications including American Record Guide, BBC Music Magazine, Diapason, Falstaff Magazine, Fanfare Magazine, Gaudisc, Goldberg Magazine, Gramophone Magazine, La Stampa, The Evening Standard, The Guardian, The Independent, The Irish Times, The Strad and The Sunday Times for our performances on the Avie Label. We won Gramophone Awards in the ‘Baroque Instrumental’ category in 2010 for Vivaldi: The French Connection, and in 2017 for The Italian Job. Our recordings have regularly made the Top 10 of the UK Specialist Classical Chart, received frequent award nominations, been featured as ‘Disc of the Month’ and ‘Concerto Choice’ (BBC Music Magazine), ‘Editor’s Choice’ (Gramophone Magazine), ‘Drive Discovery’ (Classic FM) and on BBC Radio 3 programmes ‘Record Review’ and ‘Building a Library’. Part of the follow-up album to our first ever record Per Monsieur Pisendel has been used on the soundtrack to hit American TV series The Originals.

Adrian Chandler
Born on Merseyside in 1974, Adrian Chandler is recognised internationally as a leading interpreter of Italian baroque music. Whilst a student at the Royal College of Music, Adrian founded La Serenissima with whom he has performed as Director/Soloist at major festivals and has recorded extensively for the Avie label (winning a Gramophone Award in 2010). He has been Guest Director and Soloist with many ensembles and will make his debut with Concerto Copenhagen in 2019. Adrian’s performances have been broadcast extensively worldwide; his disc of virtuoso violin sonatas Per Monsieur Pisendel 2 released in 2014 attracted rave reviews and featured on the soundtrack of hit American TV series The Originals. His interpretation of The Four Seasons was released in 2015 to outstanding critical reception and his unique combination of research, editing and performing work has been recognised by twice winning the Gramophone Award for Baroque Instrumental for recording projects The French Connection (2010) and The Italian Job (2017). Adrian’s most recent recording with La Serenissima is a disc of double concertos Vivaldi x2, released in 2018, which went straight to No.1 in the Classical Charts and attracted great critical acclaim.

Known for his virtuosity and commitment as performer, Adrian also works tirelessly to research and edit new repertoire for La Serenissima. He held an Arts and Humanities Research Council fellowship at Southampton University to research the development of the North Italian violin concerto 1690 – 1740, and subsequently a two-year post as Turner Sims Professor. He curated La Serenissima’s first ever residency The Grand Tour at St John’s Smith Square, London during the 2016/17 season, devised and directed three concerts for the 2017 Vivaldi in Venice festival, and in 2018 directed the UK premiere of Brescianello’s opera Tisbe for the Buxton International Festival.

During the 2018/19 season, Adrian will direct La Serenissima in a flagship programme The Godfather at venues around the UK, will perform two bespoke programmes at London’s Wigmore Hall, and will tour to Italy, Denmark, Germany and Spain.

Booklet for VIVALDI 8 Volume 2