Juozas Rimas wrote:

>What can you say about Vivaldi's music? Like many, I know the Four Seasons
>and I like them.  However, after finding out Vivaldi has written the total
>of almost 50 concerti, 39 operas, 23 symphonies etc, I started to worry
>about the relation of quantity and quality.  Could you please assure me
>the seasons are his best work and I don't have to bother digging deeper?

Best is relative.  I must say that Mutter's new 4 Stagioni is beautiful!
HOWEVER, Vivaldi's sacred music is rife with wonderful stuff, as well as
profound meditation.  I think he made the concerti to pay the bills and
wrote church music for more soulful purposes.  (Of course, I could be
totally wrong...) Among the better known are his 2 Glorias, but there are
MANY more.  I have a 5 CD set of Vittorio Negri conducting all of this
music and it is priceless.

Miguel Muelle
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