by Mike Telin
It is easy to assume that a violin concerto by Antonio Vivaldi was written during his tenure at the Ospedale della Pietà in Venice, however, that’s not always the case. In fact, the origins of a few of his concertos for the instrument have and continue to baffle musicologists. One example is the Violin Concerto in e, RV 278 which is not part of any collection published during the composer’s lifetime.
On Sunday October 22 at 4:00 pm at the New Promise Church in Kirtland, Andrew Sords will perform that concerto with the Snowbelt Symphony under the direction of Greg Hillis. The program, Brilliant Baroque, will also include music by J.S. Bach, Handel, and Boyce. Tickets are available online.
“Not a lot is known about the concerto,” Sords said during a telephone conversation. “I first heard it when I was performing in the Republic of Georgia back in 2014. I was immediately taken by it — it’s dramatic and virtuosic. It says a lot that it was also one of David Oistrakh’s favorite pieces. He even requested that it be played during his funeral.”
Sords noted that we often think that Vivaldi wrote the same concerto 500 times, but RV 278 challenges that notion. “It is Vivaldi, but I’ve always been a fan of extroverted concertos that exploit the violin in all of its registers, and this one does that. He wrote 230 violin concertos and eleven are in the key of e minor. And as always, Vivaldi makes everything work beautifully. It’s easy to see why he was such a celebrity in his day.”
Sunday’s concert will also be a homecoming of sorts for Sords, “I played Mozart’s “Turkish on their very first concert back in 2022, and I’m so pleased to play with them again.”
Published on ClevelandClassical.com October 18, 2023.
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