20 - Wednesday, April 6, 1994 - North Shore News

Ross MacDonald
MUSIC REVIEW

VIVALDI — CELLO CONCER-
TOS, VOLUME 3

RCA Victor “Red Seal” CD
#09026-61578-2

Ofra Harnoy -— celfo

* Igor Oistrakh — violin

. Toronto Chamber Orchestra:
‘Paul Robinson condecting. —

hhh Vivaldi... again!
Everybody’s favorite
concertoist never
‘ seems to stop churning out
new releases. And, of course:
Ahhh Harnoy.... again! —
- but enough about the cover
art yo

One of the best st things that can
be said about Canada’s Ofra is
that she is reliable. Which is more
~ than can be said of many a classi-
cal superstar who often prove

. themselves quite capable of sum- °

“moning stinkers on a not irregular
basis. Harnoy, Lonversely, never
‘disappoints. ©

- As the latest strand ina string
of successful recordin s, this col-

lection of six of Vivaldi's 27 cello:

concertos is the third-volume of a

series that will eventually present - ”

all 27.'As.with the previous two
installments, a world premiere.
recording of one of the pieces is
included —- in this case the

. Cancerto:in D major, RV 404,

" ‘Also included:is the double

_ Concerto for Violin, Cello and’

- Orchestra in F Major, RV 544,
Which adds a nice.alternative to
the others which are for cello

_ only. Igor Oistrakh takes the vio-
lin honors in this one, a concerto
that amply highlights the talents of
both soloists in typical Vivaldian
fashion.

It’s been said that Vivaldi actu-
ally wrote Snly one concerto then
copied it 299 times. And, consid-
ering his strident obligation to
supply a ceaseless stream of com-
positions for the myriad of music
students at Ospedale, that might
musicologically be so. But the
more generous among us are
grateful for his instrumental out-
put simply because it’s so unflag-
gingly jaunty.

Too, we can appreciate that
Ospedale’s all-girl band included:
just about every instrument in the
orchestra forcing 1 Prete Rosso
into the history books as one of
the few Baroque compasers to
beget such a comprehensive con-
certo legacy. Cello-wise, his 27 is
the record.

Of course, Harnoy herself has
risen among the ranks of the per-
formance elite by dint of her own
record. At.29 she has alreacly
sired a lengthy legacy herself.
Making her professional debut as
soloist with an orchestra in 1975,
she has consistently built on that
foundation to cultivate a career
which even new approaches Iwo
decades. .

She has appeared with numer-

@

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ous major orchestras and in
recital in the United States,

Canada, England, France, Japan,
Holland, Belgium and Venezuela.
In addition, she has won numer-
ous international awards and
been featured in a large number
of televised recitals and documen-
taries in Canada, Japan, England,
Holland and Belgium.

Blended with this combination
of talent and production values,
Vivaldi’s chamber output has
rarely been offered in such an
appealing package. Vivald-o-
philes, cello-philes and even mus-
o-philes will find something to
like here.

A definite buy for all but the
most miserly musicologist.

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9 THE VOICE OF NORTH AND WEST VANCOUVER

1994 1 SUNDAY * WEDNESDAY - FRIDAY