Vivaldi: The Complete Viola d’amore Concertos —Rachel Barton Pine; Ars Antigua (Çedille 159)
Rachel is one of our favorite artists here at WCLV—her Mozart Concertos album was a thank-you gift during Pledge last year. “Playing the viola d’amore — with its extra strings and widely varied tunings — is a finger and brain-twister,” she says. “Its unique sound and beauty makes it more than worth the effort, however. According to Leopold Mozart (Wolfgang Amadeus’s father), the viola d’amore is “a special kind of violin that sounds especially beautiful in the stillness of the night.” I am excited to share this lovely instrument with you, especially if you are hearing it for the first time. I am also thrilled to share my first recording of the intensely rhetorical and passionate music of one of my favorite fellow redheads, Antonio Vivaldi.” She plays a 1774 Nicola Gagliano 12-string viola d’amore on this recording with the Chicago-based period-instrument ensemble Ars Antigua.
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