No major ensemble today is more closely associated with the music of Vivaldi than Europa Galante under its dynamic violinist director, Fabio Biondi. In this new release, Fabio Biondi and the Europa Galante expand their rich catalogue of Vivaldi's works with six concertos -- five from La Stravaganza and another in F major -- published as a set in London in 1728 by John Walsh and a pillar of the composer's international fame in his lifetime. The new CD also includes a further Vivaldi concerto, RV 544 in F major, entitled `Il Proteo o sia Il mondo al rovescio' (Proteus, or the world upside-down), which refers to shape-shifting sea-god Proteus. The score is ingeniously written so that, with an appropriate shift in pitch, the solo violin and cello could readily swap parts.Gramophone magazine has praised Europa Galante's ability to "bring something entirely fresh and vital to oft-performed repertoire, illuminating well-trodden paths with affective articulation and eloquently voiced inflexions," while the New York Times has asked: "What accounts for the verve? A sense of spontaneity, enviable technical facility and stylistic polish, to be sure, but also Europa Galante's unfailing musicality, that salient but hard-to-define quality responsible for transforming the adept into the memorable."
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