Marco FornaCiari, Fone Ensemble - Vivaldi: Il Canto, dallo Strumento alla Voce (2007) [SACD]

Although not stated in the recording details, this mixed programme of Vivaldi instrumental and sacred choral works proves to be from a live concert, with applause. The venue was appropriately a church in a suburb of Pisa, which gives an useful amount of ambience to the proceedings, recorded in stereo only.
The disc has been mastered at an unusually high level, causing me to scramble for the volume control to subdue it at once. It really doesn't sound like a DSD recording made with a basic set of Neumann valve microphones; above modest volume levels it is very fatiguing and high strings glare. Most of my CDs sound better. Even at lower volumes some high violin notes seem to jump out momentarily, a disconcerting feature. Overall, the sound is monochrome, and I had to turn for comparison to Channel Classic's La Stravaganza disc with a similar period string orchestra (Vivaldi: La Stravaganza - Podger/Arte Dei Suonatori) to find another world of thrilling instrumental colour and rich sonorities.
The opening two Vivaldi concertos for violin and strings are played by the Fonè Ensemble, a small period instrument group, with the director/soloist Marco Fornaciari. The "Grosso Mogul" RV 208 and Op. 3 no. 9 (RV 230, used by Bach in his organ concerto BWV972) have plenty of lengthy and difficult virtuoso parts for the soloist. Fornaciari plays them well, except for some moments of questionable intonation. The ripieno group have good vitality, but the playing is not exceptionally characterful, although the use of a delightfully piping chamber organ as continuo was a sweet feature of the recitative in RV 208. When the applause comes in after the performances, it is sparse and certainly more polite rather than enthusiastic.
Things go down hill rapidly when the chorus appears. A mixed-voice regional chorus numbering around 50, the Corale Valdera clearly has the potential to overpower the very small orchestra, which its very dense tone frequently proceeds to do. The choice of works is eccentric, to say the least. Rather than complete performances of three Vivaldi sacred works, a few single movements are sung, except for the Credo RV 591 which is complete. Only 3 movements each are given from the famous Gloria Rv 589 (from 12 movements) and the Magnificat RV 610 (from 9 movements, and not even including the crucial opening Magnificat!).
The joyous first movement of the Gloria opens with a pacey string introduction, but as soon as the chorus enters they start to drag, singing with little care for vocal colour and meaning, at a generalised forte which seems to be their preferred volume level throughout the choral pieces. There is no light and shade in the voices, evidence of commitment is fleeting and rhythms are obstinately four-square. Several of the slower movements simply sound weary and drag terribly. Pitching between choir and orchestra is sometimes in dispute, and also within the choir - the tenors in particular, straining their voices, are often well off pitch and tend to slide down scales rather than articulating. In short, I have heard many amateur choirs give far better performances than this. The audience applause tells it all; it is even thinner than for the instrumental music, except for a few isolated enthusiasts who are probably relatives of the singers. If you want to hear a fine period performance of "The" Vivaldi Gloria, then go to Pearlman (Vivaldi: Gloria, Bach: Magnificat - Pearlman).
In total, this is a record of a local church performance which was probably quite entertaining at the time, but simply does not merit international distribution.