Don't Worry, Be Vivaldi

Don't know whether anyone else has seen this, but there's a potentially a very strange concert at the Proms tomorrow afternoon.

Bobby McFerrin with the best orchestra in the World!

He's conducting some excellent popular classics, and singing one of the parts of a Vivaldi Double Cello Concerto! (as well as 10 mins of himself alone?)

No ideas how popular this will be, but given the early start (4:30), I'd reckon on being in the queue by at least midday. PM me if you fancy coming and need further details (I'll get back late tonight).

 

Graham, I recently heard another Vivaldi oddity, called (believe it or not) "O'stravaganza", a mixture of Vivaldi and Irish traditional. See:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00005O83K/qid=1063709328/026-0111128-1014807

The bit I heard was good fun, but I'm not sure I could cope with a whole CD - not at full price anyway.

 

Vivaldi

OT?

I love Vivaldi and since decades I'm trying to find the box with the complete works of Vivaldi played by Scimone and the Solisti Veneti.
I have the box with I Musici but I prefer much more Scimone.

And today I received it (23 LPs, RCA Erato ZL30866) !!!!! The records look unplayed.. :MILD: :boogie: RaT: :banana:

The only problem: maybe in a months I will start to hear it.

 

The concert clearly divided people big-time. I actually quite enjoyed it, but many of the died-in-the-wool classicos hated it.
He got fairly precise but flat perfromances out of the orchestra in the Mozart, and even L'apprenti Sorcier didn't really come alive. The taught rhythmic grip on Bolero was excellent though. He does need to learn though what a major orchestra is really capable of in dynamic terms, and how they can be made to shape a note.

The Vivaldi was great fun - although maybe would have been better with two singers rather than singer and cello. He also had a lovely littel joke at the start where as the cellist was tuning up, he also had a go - treating the baton he'd stowed in his dreadlocks as a tuning peg. He also seemed to use his microphone as a fingerboard - psychological assistance to articulate his voice maybe

In his solo section he did his popular hits (like "Blackbird"), but also some Bach preludes. There was also lovely version of Gounod's Ave Maria where he got the audience to sing the theme (and there were clearly some VERY good singers in the crowd - who also knew all the words) while he sang the accompanying Bach prelude.

Looks like Vivaldi is getting more and more airtime now (beyond just the "Four Cheeses") - e.g. Scholl and Bartoli proselytising his vocal music, and more of these "strange" arrangements. I also love his stuff, but not in too large chunks - or those lengthy chordal sequences to get rather repetitive. (One of those Scholl discs should be on its way to me now)

 

There are unkind folk who have said that Vivaldi wrote one violin concerto 26 times! Certainly a lot of ol' Antonio's output can sound very much the same, but the good stuff can hold its head up in any company.