Archives: Reviews

Technical acrobatics, jaunty melodies and shifting rhythms. This must be Vivaldi, right? Wrong. The music on this album comes from the Red Priest’s younger – but no less gifted –...

‘Celebrating the work of the Anglo-Italian violinist and composer Nicola Matteis and “the English style in 18th-century Europe”, this superb disc takes as its starting point Matteis’s...

‘The Qatar World Cup is in full swing these days, the second consecutive World Cup without Italy. And so, whilst waiting for better times, we want to congratulate the coaches and players...

‘The performances by this accomplished ensemble are polished and invigorating. Chandler’s solo violin playing is articulate, warm toned and communicative … a rewarding issue.’ Nicholas...

‘La Serenissima here charts the flourishing of Italian instrumental music in the early decades of the 1700s (the ‘Settecento’), with ports of call in Venice, Bologna and Naples. Alongside...

‘Adrian Chandler and La Serenissima have had a run of snappy album titles in recent years – ‘The Italian Job’, ‘The Godfather’, ‘Vivaldi x2’ –...

‘If Chandler’s programming of oddities and fragments sometimes looks like a musicological download, the sound his orchestra makes soon makes you forget that. Bright, clear, open and gloriously...

‘Under Adrian Chandler, the playing, vibrant yet polished to perfection, is superb.’ Stephen Pettit, The Sunday Times ‘They really put the rock into baroque!’ John...

‘Tell anyone you’re attending an evening entitled The Italian Job and you might expect an impish, mildly predictable reference in a mock-Cockney accent about ‘blowing the bloody...

‘Truly outstanding. La Serenissima’s devotion to their performances was amazing’ ‘To hear The Four Seasons, performed in such a fresh and magical manner was a continuous joy and source of...

‘The English, historical-instrument, Baroque ensemble La Serenissima (the term was a nickname for the city of Venice) has specialized in somewhat scholarly recordings that nevertheless retain...

Whipping up a storm with Vivaldi‘La Serenissima, the “most serene republic” of Venice, is also the name of one of Britain’s best-loved chamber orchestras. The connection is Antonio Vivaldi,...