Vivaldi: Masques – Paul-Antoine Bénos-Djian

This album celebrates Antonio Vivaldi’s compositions for a particular vocal register, the alto, and for soloists from three different instrumental families: strings, woodwinds (the transverse flute) and brass (the horn). It includes the now famous arias from Orlando furioso and La verità in cimento, the violin concerto RV241, brought back from Venice in 1717 by Johann Georg Pisendel, a leading violinist, pupil and friend of Vivaldi, a flute concerto, not to mention his sacred vocal music, much of which is written for solo voice. A broad and eclectic panorama, a veritable ‘best of’ the Venetian composer, conceived by the musicians of Café Zimmermann, who have been playing Vivaldi’s music with passion since its creation more than 25 years ago (as evidenced by its rich discography at Alpha), and the French countertenor Paul-Antoine Bénos-Djian, ‘enchanting in Vivaldi’, writes Diapason, which praises his ‘penetrating artistry’ and ‘unique personality’.