A special feature is noticeable right at the beginning: The opening ritornello, normally reserved for the full orchestra, is immediately joined in by the solo violin. A descending unison theme enters twice in the basses with rhythmically striking determination. The solo violin immediately counters this twice with a decisive downward figure before suggesting a conclusion to the ritornello with a simple rhythmic melody in double stops. However, the basses insist against the premature violin solo and play their rhythmic unison theme again. "Concertising", i.e. arguing while playing, they find a joint conclusion to the opening ritornello.

Only now should the solo violin begin to play in concert, which it does immediately. This and the following solo sections of the violin present completely different variations of alternating solo figurations, which alternate with the unison theme that appears again and again as a ritornello.

Can images be projected into this score as a listening aid? If it is an aid to listening, why not? Vivaldi loved to evoke pictorial associations with sounds, and not only in the Four Seasons. Can you also hear a wild ride, hunting horns or even cannon salvos and the trampling of horses? Whatever the case, translated into the modern age, one could say that it is the joy of speed, mobility and freedom that resonates with us.

And Vivaldi follows this lively ride through time with one of his most beautiful slow movements. The opening pizzicati in the strings already give us a hint of something special. A magically beautiful melody in the solo violin with its ornamentation opens up the listening space into the expansive and transcendent. Just listen and go with it, no more images are needed here! At the end, the last pizzicato sounds of the strings give us some time to come down from our amazement.

The concerto begins in the dark key of D minor. Repetitive phrases follow one another, the narration is rather dark. Then the violin enters, also with repetitive figures, she brings in her voice quietly, not dazzlingly dominating, but rather discreetly. As if she were withdrawing, she then leaves the music to the ripieno of the orchestra again. The violin sticks to its shadowy sound figures, alternating with the orchestra's playing and hastening towards a rather resigned conclusion of the orchestra.

Vivaldi's middle movements often take us very briefly into a new, different world, as if they wanted to whisk us away from everyday life. In this concerto, too, the violin begins to sing a melody, always on the somewhat melancholy-sounding high register of the A string. The violin plays its rapturous song in a contemplative and somewhat sad manner.

The concerto begins with an insistent, march-like rhythmic motif in the orchestra, punctuated by violin interjections. From E-flat major, the harmony changes briefly to G minor, giving the theme a characteristically serious note. Finally, the violin takes the lead, confidently and with a melody that it carries on with relish until the rhythmic motif of the orchestral tutti interferes again, first in C minor and then in G minor. But then the violin gets going, virtuoso bariola passages show who dominates and what the violinist can do, then the ripieno tutti follows again in ritornello form, and once again the violin shows what double stops can do in the next solo section, conveying serious, mature joie de vivre. A short final tutti, as if the orchestra were withdrawing.

Tension builds up in the orchestra, the basses push forward, with slow upward passages the violin then takes over the melody, peaceful and melodious, as if it wants to tell of love and beautiful feelings? Just follow it, it takes you along, the orchestra accompanies with discreet chord playing. At the end, the basses once again interject themselves weightily... as if they wanted to put a stop to it.

Like a wild storm, a string tutti races towards the listeners to stop immediately: The sighing motifs of a Largo interlude immediately trigger other emotions. Once again the storm, only then "andantino" an almost dance-like fading of this emotional contrast, leading from the dominant to the tonic. The E minor storm, however, is still present, comes again and closes the first ritornello tutti. The soloist announces himself with a painful cantilena, then covers his emotions behind virtuoso violin brilliance: great leaps, sixteenth-note figures, leaping arches and rhythmic restlessness. After a brilliantly wild run of the violin, the stormy tutti falls in again. But the soloist continues to escalate into almost bizarre gimmicks, without being able to conceal a latent despair. Again the stormy ritornello tutti, but after a brief halt it threatens to flag. With a wild run, the violin comes to the fore again and dominates the scene with its daring, virtuosic, but also vocally varied rhetoric, until the expected tutti that closes without surprise.

An astonishing beginning: Vivaldi prescribes long, mysterious string chords that take unusual harmonic courses. A bass rhythm underlies everything, almost a kind of dead conduct, depending on the interpretation. Sighing motifs follow, the tutti withdraws and leaves the lamentation to the violin. What follows is what always fascinates listeners of Vivaldi's music: a solo melody over an infinitesimally quiet accompaniment, more intimate than opera singing, only the violin can lament in such a way and at the same time comfort us to weep beautifully. Simply sing along inwardly, and abandon yourself to the violin. The orchestra concludes the scene, fading away in peace.

A typical Vivaldian ritornello theme immediately sweeps us along. It consists of a gripping, swinging short motif, whose quiet repetition and decisive continuation lead to a surprising chromatic passage, which then leads to the first violin solo. Already here, Pisendel was able to demonstrate his speed in sixteenth-note runs, his wide bow jumps and double-stopping technique. Then the ritornello theme intervenes again, until the violin gets going again in the second solo with the fastest triplets and only plays a calm chromatic transitional phrase during the transition to the third ritornello (in E major this time). The violin begins the third solo with a recumbent string accompaniment, now with a lyrical, chant-like Adagio phrase. Then the ritornello theme follows again and leads joyfully to the conclusion.

The middle movement of this G major concerto has survived in two versions. One is an Adagio cantabile, a kind of sonata middle movement with repetitions and bare basso continuo accompaniment. The other is an enchanting Adagio (RV 314a) with pizzicato accompaniment by the strings, over which one of Vivaldi's wonderful lyrical aria melodies blossoms and almost dies away in beauty with its ornaments.

Listen to RV 314 here!
Listen to RV 314a here!

The opening immediately attracts attention with its rhythmically halting and double forte-piano texture. In addition, G minor alternates with B flat major in the opening theme. Only then does a chromatically gloomy mood dominated by syncopation spread out, which is shortly underpinned from the depths by a bass figure similar to Bordun. Moving figures lament over it, until a fierce basso continuo solo marches forward and drags the ripieno orchestra along with it. The tutti ritornello then flows smoothly into the violin's first solo.

On rhythmically regular eighth notes, the violin exudes its consistently vocal and at the same time virtuoso figures until residual motifs from the initial ritornello interrupt its solo playing.

The ritornello motifs of the beginning follow each other freely and almost like a development, and again almost unnoticed, concealing the ritornello structure, the solo violin enters with its eighth-note figures and triplet runs and leads us through the most diverse keys. Solitary long-drawn-out high violin notes bring some calm, lonely second violins briefly enter below with a descending and ascending accompaniment of the solo voice, until the ritornello theme, marked by syncopation, energetically interferes again.

It is immediately replaced by melodious arches and rhythmically imaginative figurations of the solo violin. Once again, a sombre ritornello-like interlude from the orchestra. Dancingly, the solo violin then charges towards a kind of virtuoso solo cadenza. Insisting on the sombre ritornello mood, the orchestra once again sets its accents and leads the formally rather free movement to a decisive end.

The second violins play a lonely and monochrome striding, immediately catchy bass theme, which then has to serve as an accompaniment for a cantabile violin solo. One continues to listen both to the accompaniment, but also allows oneself to be enchanted by the violin solo and goes along on a short solitary journey for two until a peaceful conclusion. A Vivaldi middle movement not to be forgotten!