Dunedin Consort: Čičič Directs Vivaldi

Perth Concert Hall - 19/11/23

Dunedin Consort | Bojan Čičič, director & solo violin

Croatian violinist Bojan Čičič’s tour of 5 Scottish venues with the instrumentalists of the Dunedin Consort and a programme of lesser-known Vivaldi gems concluded on the afternoon of Sunday 19th November in Perth Concert Hall.  In an entertaining and informative pre-concert interview with the Consort’s Interim Chief Executive, Edward Edgcumbe, after first praising the acoustic and ambience of the venue (no argument from me), Bojan shared the reasons for his curiosity and enthusiasm for this music and his mission to bring it back into the limelight.  The curiosity stems from the fascinating musicology of how Vivaldi’s music was disseminated around Europe and how differences in national musical taste affected how it was appreciated and performed, with particular interest in music found in a library in Dresden, dating from when a young German virtuoso Johann Georg Pisendel had travelled to Venice to study informally with the master and brought a collection of as yet unpublished music back to his hometown.  These early versions formed a major part of the programme, which contained only two of the better-known concerti from the Amsterdam-published L’Estro Armonico collection.  The motivation for performing them: “They are fun to perform”.  Is there a better reason?

The audience turnout was fairly sparse at around 100, but the ambience of the auditorium was enthusiastic, so this didn’t seem to matter.  The instrumentation, including Bojan, comprised 4 violins, 2 violas, cello and bass, plus a virginal-style small harpsichord.  Introducing the programme, Bojan admitted he had chosen only pieces in major keys “to cheer us up on a Scottish November day”. 

The Sinfonia à 4 in C, RV 192a which opened the programme was, despite the name, a violin concerto in 3 short movements with one prominent and another lesser solo violin part: a sprightly first movement, an elegant slow movement, and a virtuosic finale with a double-metre solo part.  A Pisendel edition and a great concert opener.  The concerto which followed, RV 195, also in C, was two fast movements joined by a brief slower cadenza-like passage, the first movement very virtuosic with quasi-improvisatory ornamentation, the finale with a melody very like the opening of Vivaldi’s ‘Gloria’.  Next up, RV 519, Op.3 No.5 in A from L’Estro Armonico, is a familiar Concerto for 2 Violins, its outer movements briskly optimistic with lovely answering and imitation between the soli, the central Largo an elegant arioso with long solo phrases over a steady metre on the beat on the other instruments and, after retuning, it was given a heart-warming performance.  The first half concluded with a Violin Concerto in A, RV 341, a real gem deceptively cast in the familiar Allegro-Largo-Allegro mould.  The solo part started with the tutti, emerging as a solo after a line and a half of music in a part full of characterful effects, such as string-crossing and Baroque sequences.  The cello part was unusually lyrical with little comments.  The slow movement, a sweetly ornamented arioso solo line singing over the rapid soft staccato of the tutti violins, was magical.  The triple-time finale sported more rapid string-crossing and sequences yet did not lack variety and was really lovely.

The harpsichord was retuned during the interval and I will never tire of the sweet sound of the other period instruments tuning to elegant arpeggiation on the harpsichord.  The Sinfonia in F, RV 140 is a non-concertante 3-movement piece whose middle movement, though marked Andante, is far from slow and gives rather the impression of a charming, brisk Handelian Andantino.  The sprightly, agile first movement had a surprisingly complex cello part, while the whimsical triple-time finale prompted a few smiles on and off stage with the echoed ends of phrases.  Next up, a Violin Concerto in B-flat written for the French market and dubbed ‘L ’elite des Concerto Italiens’ by the Paris publisher, RV 382 lives up to the 1740s hype, especially its dramatic minor-key central movement, with a virtuosic double-time solo passage contrasting with another more arioso one, separated by stoic pavane-like tutti passages. Glorious. The outer movements are more conventional, but received committed playing nonetheless, solo sequences alternating with scurrying tutti.  One viola left the stage for the 4-movement Concerto in F for 4 violins, viola and basso continuo RV 567, usually billed as No.7 of L’Estro Armonico, but we heard it in a Dresden version.  In the Andante first movement, Vivaldi plays with the dramatic possibilities afforded by 4 soloists, having them take turns, then in harmonised pairs, then all 4 sliding chromatically together.  A cadenza for first violin and a brief Adagio minor movement leads to an agile Allegro, harmonically adventurous and ornate in a vaguely French way.  Another Adagio minor-key cadenza leads to the triple-time minuet-like finale, cheeky echo effects adding to the charm.  Lovely.

The missing violist returned and the advertised programme concluded with the controversially-subtitled Violin Concerto in A, RV 340 ‘per li Coglioni’ (literally ‘for those assholes’).  The insult, aimed at the Dresden bassists who had complained at Vivaldi’s failure to provide the ‘figured bass’ numbers on his score in previous mailings, may quite simply have been good-natured banter, or an open expression of exasperation; probably a bit of both.  German bassists were accustomed to the more complex harmonies of German music and the discreet numbers that guided them through performing it; Vivaldi felt his harmonies were utterly conventional and easy to follow and required no figuring.  In any case, RV 340 arrived in Dresden with huge bold numbers scribed on the bass part and the gibe in the subtitle.  One gets the impression that the Red Priest didn’t suffer fools gladly.  Following a unison opening, the amazingly virtuosic first movement is melodically inventive, with ornate sequences for the soloist and some agile writing in the top register of the instrument.  Bojan added some nicely improvised ornamentation.  The slow movement, an elegant songlike Siciliano in the minor key, sounded quite harmonically adventurous for Vivaldi, perhaps another dig at the Dresdeners? The finale, mainly in the major key but with forays into the minor, was a rhythmic, thrilling romp in triple time with a very ornate solo part and a formidable cadenza.

Perth Concert Hall is always a lovely place to be, never more so then on a Sunday afternoon in the company of Vivaldi enthusiasts.  Full thumbs-up from me.

Cover photo: Nick Rutter