I found a record of Vivaldi's La Cetra, Op. 9, at a thrift store and decided to try it out. It's the I Musici version with Felix Ayo as soloist.
The label says La Cetra are Concertos for Vioin, Strings, and Continuo (Organ) and the word itself means roughly "lyre."
This is the first time I've listened to this work, and I'm amazed at how "under the radar" it has been. I haven't seen or heard of chamber groups play this work, so it comes as a delight that La Cetra contains within it little fragments of all the "greatest-hits" of Vivaldi. When I was listening to this concerto, I hear little bits and pieces that reminds me of other Vivaldi works; it's a very "ear-wormy" composition, that will make a musically inclined person go and look up the references to other parts of Vivaldi's body of work.
The virtuoso parts are indeed virtuosic. Felix Ayo (a Spainish born, Italian violinist, who is still alive!) brings the goods and there are parts that rise beyond mere mortal playing.
I read that there are some cross-tuning (scordatura) in the pieces, and it's a joy when I hear them.
There were some typographic issues with the sheet music played in this version of La Cetra leading to some people no longer liking this version, but I couldn't care less about that. All I know is that this was a great buy and I really enjoy this music.
I often play it on my record player and it always puts me into an analytical, quiet, and thinking mood.
Score: 5/5
