A Vivaldi Snapshot

Let’s finish the week with a brief but alluring musical snapshot.

This is the beautiful second movement (Andante) from Vivaldi’s Concerto for Strings in F Major, RV 136, completed around 1730. It’s an excerpt from Vivaldi: Arie ritrovate, a 2008 album I featured in last Friday’s post. Violinist Stefano Montanari joins the Ravenna-based baroque orchestra, Accademia Bizantina, led by Ottavio Dantone.

I love the way this music draws us in with a sense of majestic, flowing, inevitability. Its roving bass line is constantly sliding in unpredictable new harmonic directions. Listen to the imitative dialogue between voices and the intimate warmth of the final bars:

Vivaldi: Arie ritrovate presents some of Vivaldi’s recently rediscovered operatic gems. The Concerto for Violins was included because of the second movement’s thematic links to the aria Abbia respiro il cor from La Silvia, RV 734. Here it is performed by contralto Sonia Prina:

Recordings

  • Vivaldi: Arie ritrovate, Sonia Prima, Ottavio Dantone, Accademia Bizantina iTunes

About Timothy Judd

A native of Upstate New York, Timothy Judd has been a member of the Richmond Symphony violin section since 2001. He is a graduate of the Eastman School of Music where he earned the degrees Bachelor of Music and Master of Music, studying with world renowned Ukrainian-American violinist Oleh Krysa.

The son of public school music educators, Timothy Judd began violin lessons at the age of four through Eastman’s Community Education Division. He was a student of Anastasia Jempelis, one of the earliest champions of the Suzuki method in the United States.

A passionate teacher, Mr. Judd has maintained a private violin studio in the Richmond area since 2002 and has been active coaching chamber music and numerous youth orchestra sectionals.

In his free time, Timothy Judd enjoys working out with Richmond’s popular SEAL Team Physical Training program.

Leave a Comment