Vivaldi: Seven Cello ConcertosGuy Fishman, cello & Members of Handel and Haydn Society

With seven members of the Handel and Haydn Society, Guy Fishman invigorates and illuminates a brilliant selection of Vivaldi’s cello concertos, once more affirming the genius of the composer, the cello and historically-informed performances on period instruments.

Playing on a 1704 Roman instrument by David Techler, Fishman shows the mentoring effects of distinguished teachers from Laurence Lesser to Anner Bylsma: he possesses a gorgeous sound and always follows the long line—yet he knows his way around embellishments and filling out the continuo. Check out the magic in the slow movement of RV 418 and I guarantee you will be convinced. — Laurence Vittes, Huffington Post, 2.10.2017

Guy Fishman, principal cellist of the Handel & Haydn Society Orchestra, presents a brilliant and energized period-instrument performance of seven miraculous and seminal concertos by the Red Priest, Antonio Vivaldi. Fishman made his Symphony Hall solo debut in 2005, and is in demand as an early music specialist in the United States and Europe, performing in recital and with Arcadia Players, Querelle des Bouffons, Boston Baroque, Apollo’s Fire, Emmanuel Music, the Boston Museum Trio, Les Violons du Roy, and El Mundo, among others. He has toured with the Mark Morris Dance Group and Natalie Merchant, and has appeared in recital with Dawn Upshaw, Eliot Fisk, Gil Kalish, and Kim Kashakashian. His playing has been praised as “plangent” by the Boston Globe, and “electrifying” by the New York Times. He plays a rare cello made in Rome in 1704 by David Tecchler. Founded in Boston in 1815, the Handel and Haydn Society is internationally acclaimed for its performances and recordings of Baroque and Classical music. Under the leadership of Artistic Director Harry Christophers, H+H’s Period Instrument Orchestra and Chorus delight more than 50,000 listeners each year at Symphony Hall and other leading venues in Boston. --Lisa Flynn

My regular readers know how little I respect most musicians who pursue the “Historically-Informed Performance” style of flat dynamics, straight tone strings and all that jaz, because I researched the Baroque and pre-Baroque era for a decade back in the late 1970s-early 1980s and learned that much of what they propose either never existed in that time or is an exaggeration of what was actually done. That being said, I have made exceptions for a handful of groups and individual performers who play in that style, among them Tafelmusik, the Boston Baroque, and any group conducted by Fabio Biondi, Marc Minkowski or the late Alan Curtis.

To that short list I must now add the Handel and Haydn Society, which plays with energy and enthusiasm. The cello soloist, Guy Fishman, is sort of a special case. He does play with straight tone, and in the slow movements I sometimes find his sound too wan for my taste; but he also plays with considerable flair and fire, turning these concerti into real showcases for his instrument. He almost makes you like the style because he is such an enthusiastic and committed musician within that narrow and ahistorical framework, thus you can appreciate his many virtues while admitting to his few weaknesses. At least he produces a full tone in slow sections most of the time, which compensates for his lack of vibrato.

More importantly, both Fishman and the ensemble approach these works with the enthusiasm of people who have discovered fire for the first time. I love the way they can turn their grupetti on a dime, making the music flow despite their strict adherence to the style. By doing so, the entire group makes you focus on what is going on in the scores and not notice the technique that leads to their musical conclusions.

As for the music, it is typical of Vivaldi in his prime, meaning short movements where single motifs are worked out satisfactorily but do not lend themselves to profundity. Igor Stravinsky once said that “Vivaldi did not write 400 concertos, he wrote the same concerto 400 times,” but this is clearly facetious Even within the seven concertos on this CD, there is great variety not only in key but also in thematic use and mood. Of the slow movements, I particularly liked the “Adagio” of the concerto in C minor for its expressive content, and the last movement in this concerto is quite inventive for Vivaldi, with several “leaning” harmonies that temporarily push the music out of its tonal center. But every movement on this astonishing album comes to vibrant life in the hands of these talented musicians—listen, for instance, to the opening of the Concerto in F, which they make sound like a big guitar enthusiastically strumming out the rhythm.

This disc is, quite simply, a gem, and I recommend it highly.

— Lynn Bayley, Art Music Lounge, 1.31.2017

Cellist Guy Fishman joins fellow Handel and Haydn Society members in a collection of the composer’s most challenging cello concertos.

Israeli-born Guy Fishman has to his name one of the most extensive musical résumés on the planet – and luckily, his imprint right here in Boston is a monumental one. Having performed with countless renowned ensembles including Boston Baroque, Apollo’s Fire, Les Violons du Roy, the Arcadia Players, and many more, Fishman has become a hugely prominent member of both the local and international classical music worlds. In his newest album, Fishman explores works written towards the dawn of the cello’s rise as a solo instrument: those of Antonio Vivaldi.

Known largely as a prolific writer of violin concertos, Vivaldi’s cello repertoire is not to be overlooked. It is with the bounded mentality as a violinist himself that the Venetian composer wrote for the cello, creating the unprecedented task of a cellist playing their instrument like a violin – an instrument many times smaller and thus more agile. Joined by fellow members of Boston’s Handel and Haydn Society, Fishman selects what he finds to be the seven most difficult concertos, bringing a lyricism to the cello otherwise unimaginable before Vivaldi’s time. -- 3.7.2017, ClassicalWCRB.org

Vivaldi: Seven Cello Concertos
Guy Fishman, cello; Members of the Handel and Haydn Society
Olde Focus Recordings FCR 907

By Mike Telin

CD REVIEW — After cellist Guy Fishman was given a recording of Vivaldi cello concertos at age 12, his life was forever changed. In the liner notes for his new recording, Vivaldi: Seven Cello Concertos, Fishman writes: “I burned to play this music. Vivaldi had sold me on the cello, and I hope to pay him sufficient tribute, in what modest way I can, when I return to his music time and time again.” Without a doubt, not only is this recording a “sufficient tribute” to the Red Priest, but Fishman’s brilliant performances also would bring a smile to the composer’s face if he were alive to hear them.

viously, the Israeli-born cellist is as inspired as ever by Vivaldi’s music. The youthful exuberance he brings to each concerto, combined with his keen sense of phrasing and extraordinary technique — especially his bow arm — makes this CD a feast for the ears. The album should also put to rest the notion that Vivaldi wrote one concerto five-hundred times: Fishman finds all that is individual about each of these works.

The cellist and a top-notch, seven-member ensemble from Boston’s Handel and Haydn Society open with the spirited concerto RV 403 in D major. As he does throughout the recording, he produces clean, crisp articulations during the faster movements, while long, lyrical phrases define the slower sections. In RV 418 in A minor, Fishman tosses off the first movement’s rapid string crossings with flair. His cadenza during the Largo is heartfelt and pensive.

Both soloist and colleagues sound spectacular in the concertos in C minor, D minor, and B minor (RV 401, 405, and 424), but their irrepressible account of RV 410 in F major is the highlight of the recording. The rhythmic strumming of theorbist Paula Chateauneuf adds extra panache to the fast movements and her delicate plucking creates a serene beauty during the Largo.

The disc concludes with the dazzling RV 413 in G major. Here, Fishman performs the fast scales and trills in the Allegros with aplomb while bringing an elegant vocal quality to the Largo.

A bonus feature of the album is Fishman’s personal liner notes, in which he ponders such questions as: What was Vivaldi’s character? How did the composer feel about his job at Venice’s Ospedale della Pietà. Did he feel conflict between the call of the muse and that of the church? Fishman also addresses how advances in technology brought the cello out of the continuo section and into its new role as a solo instrument.

The sound quality of the disc, released on Olde Focus Recordings, is both excellent and intimate, giving the impression that the musicians are performing in your living room. Perhaps this CD will inspire another 12-year-old cellist to discover this glorious music.

Israeli-born cellist Guy Fishman is principal cellist of Boston's Handel & Haydn Society. He makes these demanding works of Vivaldi seem effortless, summoning both fire and refinement from his instrument when called for. These performances will leave you quite breathless. -- Mark Pinto, 12.21.2017, WRTI.org