VIVALDI: CANTATE PER SOPRANO I

Arianna Vendittelli, soprano; Abchordis Ensemble; Andrea Buccarella, harpsichord and conductor (Naïve)

This is the latest instalment in the expansive Vivaldi Edition on Naïve, which is capturing a huge trove of the master’s scores on record and is scheduled to culminate in 2027, the year before his 350th birthday. In a monthly review feature earlier this year, I wrote about an album of early-17th century chamber madrigals by Sigismondo d’India; these Vivaldi cantate per soprano, from roughly a century later, are an outgrowth of that form. While the subject matter is still love, in both contemporary and ancient settings, the poetry Vivaldi sets in his multipart alternations of recitative and arias is more pedestrian; he makes up for it with the increased vocal dazzle of the high baroque.

The virtuosity poses no problem for soprano Arianna Vendittelli — her tone floating, but also agile and forceful. Given intimate accompaniment by Andrea Buccarella and the Abchordis Ensemble, Vendittelli is responsive to the different moods of these six cantatas: the dreamy melancholy of Aure, Voi Più Non Siete; the tossed-off lightness of Tra L’Erbe I Zeffiri and La Farfalletta S’Aggira Al Lume; the dash

of Si Levi Dal Pensier; and the burning grandeur of Sorge Vermiglia In Ciel La Bella Aurora, the album’s highlight.