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Antonio Vivaldi

Antonio Vivaldi's Opus Four consists of a collection of a dozen concertos for violin, string orchestra, and basso continuo. Owing to some unusual and sometimes daring melodic and harmonic twists it carries the title La Stravaganza (The Extravaganza). The solo music includes a lot of melodic cantabile flights and also a lot of figural passagework that often rises to a virtuosic level. The ensemble begins this concerto's earnestly happy Allegro, and the first solo episode emerges from one if its figural passages. The movement's solo outings, all of which move forward over accompaniment from the basso continuo, are mostly figural in nature. The soloist presents a contentedly musing solo cantilena over discreet continuo accompaniment in the subsequent Largo. The concluding Allegro starts with an earnestly happy ritornello that features some intriguing repetitions of motifs and unusual harmony before proceeding to some equally happy solo outings that hold forth with figurally driven material.