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VIVALDI 8 Volume 1 The Four Seasons & other concertos
Antonio Vivaldi

La Serenissima

VIVALDI 8 Volume 1 The Four Seasons & other concertos

Price: € 19.95
Format: CD
Label: Signum Classics
UPC: 0635212088623
Catnr: SIGCD 886
Release date: 14 February 2025
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1 CD
€ 19.95
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Label
Signum Classics
UPC
0635212088623
Catalogue number
SIGCD 886
Release date
14 February 2025
Album
Artist(s)
Composer(s)
EN

About the album

Baroque giants La Serenissima return VIVALDI 8 – VOLUME 1: their new recording of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons, among other concerti for ensemble by Vivaldi. Recognised for ‘whipping up a storm with Vivaldi’, La Serenissima is ‘one of Britain’s best-loved chamber orchestras’ (The Telegraph) known for championing a host of neglected Italian baroque composers and its outstanding performances. Uniquely, the group’s entire repertoire is edited from source material by founder and violinist, Adrian Chandler OSI. Praise for Vivaldi recordings by La Serenissima on Signum Classics: ★★★★★ “After being obsessed by the composer and his music world for more than 30 years, Chandler by now is Vivaldi incarnate” – The Times

Artist(s)

La Serenissima

Recognised for ‘whipping up a storm with Vivaldi’, La Serenissima is ‘one of Britain’s best-loved chamber orchestras’ (The Telegraph). The group has uncovered a plethora of neglected music, making it available to all through live performance, recording and outreach. Uniquely, the group’s entire repertoire is edited from source material by founder and violinist, Adrian Chandler OSI. Established in 1994, La Serenissima is recognised for its outstanding recording catalogue, which is regularly featured on BBC Radio 3, Classic FM and international radio; as well as in worldwide advertising (Beats, 2022) and film (Portrait of a Lady on Fire, 2020). The group has twice won the Gramophone Award for ‘Baroque Instrumental’ for The French Connection (2010) and The Italian Job (2017). La Serenissima...
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Recognised for ‘whipping up a storm with Vivaldi’, La Serenissima is ‘one of Britain’s best-loved chamber orchestras’ (The Telegraph). The group has uncovered a plethora of neglected music, making it available to all through live performance, recording and outreach. Uniquely, the group’s entire repertoire is edited from source material by founder and violinist, Adrian Chandler OSI.

Established in 1994, La Serenissima is recognised for its outstanding recording catalogue, which is regularly featured on BBC Radio 3, Classic FM and international radio; as well as in worldwide advertising (Beats, 2022) and film (Portrait of a Lady on Fire, 2020). The group has twice won the Gramophone Award for ‘Baroque Instrumental’ for The French Connection (2010) and The Italian Job (2017). La Serenissima topped the UK Classical Chart in 2018 with album Vivaldi x2.

The ensemble’s growing online following is evidenced by more than a 1.3 million monthly Spotify listeners; their 2015 recording of The Four Seasons is now ‘potentially the most streamed interpretation ever’ (Gramophone). Forza Azzurri! (2022) was featured on Italian Radio:24 – “No irony, simply the umpteenth demonstration of the love of Adrian Chandler, founder and director of the La Serenissima ensemble, for our country and for our music.” The group creates digital outreach resources for everyone, available on YouTube, and opportunities for young professional instrumentalists from across the globe via Emerging Artist Chairs. ‘Discovering Vivaldi’, a 50-minute podcast, was enabled by Culture Recovery Funding in 2022 – helping La Serenissima to reach audiences in different ways.

La Serenissima has performed throughout the UK and internationally in concert series and festivals including London Festival of Baroque Music, MustonenFest (Estonia), Handel-Festspiele (Germany), Valletta International Baroque Festival (Malta) and International Cervantes Festival (Mexico). The group has given the UK premiere of Brescianello’s opera Tisbe (2018) and the modern premiere of Caldara’s opera Lucio Papirio Dittatore (2019). The group’s ‘exquisite playing’ (The Guardian) has featured in two Monteverdi productions at Longborough Festival Opera since the pandemic. La Serenissima celebrates its 30th Anniversary at London’s Wigmore Hall during 2024-5 with a residency ‘The A-Z of the Italian Baroque’.

La Serenissima is proud to have as its Honorary Patron, His Excellency The Ambassador of Italy to the UK.


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Adrian Chandler (conductor)

Born on Merseyside in 1974, Adrian Chandler is recognised as one of today’s leading interpreters 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 internationally, and has recorded extensively for the Avie label (winning a Gramophone Award in 2010). He has been Guest Director/Soloist with many ensembles, most recently at Oslo Chamber Music Festival. 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...
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Born on Merseyside in 1974, Adrian Chandler is recognised as one of today’s leading interpreters 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 internationally, and has recorded extensively for the Avie label (winning a Gramophone Award in 2010). He has been Guest Director/Soloist with many ensembles, most recently at Oslo Chamber Music Festival. 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.

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 in 2006 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 is curating La Serenissima’s first ever residency The Grand Tour at St John’s Smith Square, London during the 2016/17 season.
La Serenissima was formed in 1994 for a performance of Antonio Vivaldi’s La Sena festeggiante and has now firmly established itself as one of the leading exponents of the music of eighteenth century Venice and connected composers.
Since its first CD release in 2003, La Serenissima has been universally applauded by publications including BBC Music Magazine, Diapason, Gramophone Magazine, The Guardian, The Sunday Times, Fanfare Magazine, American Record Guide, The Strad, La Stampa and Goldberg Magazine for its performances on the Avie Label. Their records have variously been nominated for a Gramophone Award (on multiple occasions), included in an elite Forbes List and featured on a hit American television soundtrack. In 2010 the group’s eighth release Vivaldi: The French Connection was awarded the Gramophone Award for Best Baroque Instrumental CD. La Serenissima celebrated its 21st birthday by recording Vivaldi’s Four Seasons (Manchester version) alongside works for violino in tromba marina: a reconstruction project undertaken by violinist Adrian Chandler, luthier David Rattray and the musicologist Michael Talbot which was a first in modern times. Released in September 2015, the record entered the UK Specialist Classical Chart at number 8, was featured as ‘Editor’s Choice’ Gramophone Magazine, ‘Concerto Choice’ BBC Music Magazine, voted ‘Classical Album of the Year’ by the Irish Times and was ranked in the Top 3 Picks of Radio 3’s ‘Building a Library – The Four Seasons’ from a catalogue of albums dating back to the 1940s.
The ensemble prides itself on bringing seldom-heard works to the concert platform, including Vivaldi’s operas Ottone in villa, Giustino, Tito Manlio, La Fida Ninfa, Catone in Utica and L’Olimpiade as well as a host of instrumental rarities, many of which have been committed to disc. Works by other composers feature too such as Albinoni’s Il nascimento dell’Aurora and sacred vocal works by Caldara.

La Serenissima has appeared at many of the UK’s leading festivals including Bath Bach, Beverley, Buxton, Cheltenham, Lichfield, South Bank, Spitalfields, Swansea International, Warwick and York Early Music festivals, and venues including St George’s Bristol, Snape Maltings, Cadogan Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall and Wigmore Hall. The group has also appeared in Belgium, Estonia, France, Germany, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Malta, Mexico and Spain to great acclaim. Nearly the entire repertoire of La Serenissima is edited by Director Adrian Chandler from manuscript or contemporary printed sources, a testament to its commitment and passion for rare and exciting Italian music; a feat which makes it unique amongst its peers.

Highlights of the 2015/2016 season include the culmination of UK tour The Four Seasons supported by Arts Council England and the beginning of the ensemble’s first ever residency at St John’s Smith Square, London entitled The Grand T our.


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Composer(s)

Antonio Vivaldi

Antonio Lucio Vivaldi was an Italian Baroque composer, virtuoso violinist, teacher and cleric. Born in Venice, he is recognised as one of the greatest Baroque composers, and his influence during his lifetime was widespread across Europe. He composed many instrumental concertos, for the violin and a variety of other instruments, as well as sacred choral works and more than forty operas. His best-known work is a series of violin concertos known as The Four Seasons. Many of his compositions were written for the female music ensemble of the Ospedale della Pietà, a home for abandoned children where Vivaldi (who had been ordained as a Catholic priest) was employed from 1703 to 1715 and from 1723 to 1740. Vivaldi also had some...
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Antonio Lucio Vivaldi was an Italian Baroque composer, virtuoso violinist, teacher and cleric. Born in Venice, he is recognised as one of the greatest Baroque composers, and his influence during his lifetime was widespread across Europe. He composed many instrumental concertos, for the violin and a variety of other instruments, as well as sacred choral works and more than forty operas. His best-known work is a series of violin concertos known as The Four Seasons.
Many of his compositions were written for the female music ensemble of the Ospedale della Pietà, a home for abandoned children where Vivaldi (who had been ordained as a Catholic priest) was employed from 1703 to 1715 and from 1723 to 1740. Vivaldi also had some success with expensive stagings of his operas in Venice, Mantua and Vienna. After meeting the Emperor Charles VI, Vivaldi moved to Vienna, hoping for preferment. However, the Emperor died soon after Vivaldi's arrival, and Vivaldi himself died less than a year later in poverty.

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Press

Play album Play album
01.
Concerto I La Primavera in E, RV 269: Allegro
03:25
(Antonio Vivaldi) La Serenissima
02.
Concerto I La Primavera in E, RV 269: Largo
02:35
La Serenissima, Antonio Vivaldi
03.
Concerto I La Primavera in E, RV 269: Allegro
03:48
Antonio Vivaldi, La Serenissima
04.
Concerto II L'Estate in g, RV 315: Allegro non molto - Allegro
05:30
La Serenissima, Antonio Vivaldi
05.
Concerto II L'Estate in g, RV 315: Adagio - Presto - Adagio - Presto - Adagio - Presto - Adagio
02:15
La Serenissima, Antonio Vivaldi
06.
Concerto II L'Estate in g, RV 315: Presto
02:51
Antonio Vivaldi, La Serenissima
07.
Concerto III L'Autunno in F, RV 293: Allegro - Larghetto - Allegro assai/molto
05:51
Antonio Vivaldi, La Serenissima
08.
Concerto III L'Autunno in F, RV 293: Adagio molto
02:42
La Serenissima, Antonio Vivaldi
09.
Concerto III L'Autunno in F, RV 293: Allegro
03:36
La Serenissima, Antonio Vivaldi
10.
Concerto IV L'Inverno in f, RV 297: Allegro non molto
03:22
Antonio Vivaldi, La Serenissima
11.
Concerto IV L'Inverno in f, RV 297: Largo
02:04
Antonio Vivaldi, La Serenissima
12.
Concerto IV L'Inverno in f, RV 297: Allegro - Lento - Allegro
03:34
La Serenissima, Antonio Vivaldi
13.
Concerto V La Tempesta di Mare in Eb, RV 253, Op. 8: Presto – Adagio – Allegro
02:50
Antonio Vivaldi, La Serenissima
14.
Concerto V La Tempesta di Mare in Eb, RV 253, Op. 8: Largo
02:20
Antonio Vivaldi, La Serenissima
15.
Concerto V La Tempesta di Mare in Eb, RV 253, Op. 8: Presto
03:58
La Serenissima, Antonio Vivaldi
16.
Concerto VI Il Piacere in C, RV 180, Op. 8: Allegro
03:23
La Serenissima, Antonio Vivaldi
17.
Concerto VI Il Piacere in C, RV 180, Op. 8: Largo
02:37
Antonio Vivaldi, La Serenissima
18.
Concerto VI Il Piacere in C, RV 180, Op. 8: Allegro
03:12
Antonio Vivaldi, La Serenissima
19.
Concerto for violin, strings & continuo in C, RV 170: Presto
03:03
Antonio Vivaldi, La Serenissima
20.
Concerto for violin, strings & continuo in C, RV 170: Largo
03:46
Antonio Vivaldi, La Serenissima
21.
Concerto for violin, strings & continuo in C, RV 170: Allegro
03:34
Antonio Vivaldi, La Serenissima
22.
Concerto for 2 violins, strings & continuo in Eb, RV 515: Allegro
05:27
Antonio Vivaldi, La Serenissima
23.
Concerto for 2 violins, strings & continuo in Eb, RV 515: Largo
03:26
Antonio Vivaldi, La Serenissima
24.
Concerto for 2 violins, strings & continuo in Eb, RV 515: Allegro
03:58
Antonio Vivaldi, La Serenissima
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