Vivaldi - La Serenissima - Classic FM Magazine

The three cantatas recorded here all speak of the singer's love for Elvira, a shepherdess. The first, where he can hardly bring himself to confess his love, includes desperate sighing; the second, where he has to leave, is even more impassioned. Mhairi Lawson sings with an intensity that conveys the lover's plight as though he were standing before us. The third introduces a solo violin to depict the birds in the woods before happiness is attained in a virtuoso conclusion. Violinist, Adrian Chandler, like Lawson, charges at the music like a bull at a gate. He is equally splendid in three sonatas, one of them with a cello as equal partner.