Vivaldi: Violin Concerto in A minor [RV522, Op.3, No.8] - 1. Allegro (Synthesized)

This video is alternately presented with the Music Animation Machine Midi visualization so you are able to follow along with the music. The voicing is listed as follows:
1st Violin - Yellow
2nd Violin - Lime Green
Violin I - Turquoise
Violin II - Teal
Viola - Blue
Cello - Mauve
Double Bass - Pink
Harpsichord - Orange
During the time when Vivaldi was stated at the Ospedale della Pieta, the famous Venetian home for wayward and abandoned young girls, he not only taught violin, he also developed an instrumental ensemble that became renowned for its spirited and professional playing. In 1709 he had become Maestro del Concerti, which meant that he was the official composer for the Ospedale "with the duty of teaching the girls the art of composing and performing concertos." This position allowed Vivaldi to engage in a great deal of experimentation in terms of his compositions, since he had an orchestra on hand to tryout new works. And due to these opportunities, he became particularly renowned for his contributions to the development of the concerto form. A concerto is an instrumental composition for solo instrument(s), and is often structured in three movements with the sequence fast-slow-fast. The accompaniment for a concerto typically is an orchestra. Prior to Vivaldi, many elements of the concerto were not standardized (the more weighty Roman model of Corelli, for example). Vivaldi helped establish the lighter "Venetian" model of the three movement form, as well as inner features of the movements. In his lifetime, Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741) wrote an estimated 500 instrumental concertos.
The first published set of these concertos was named "L'estro armonico," roughly, "The Harmonic Inspiration." Vivaldi dedicated it to Ferdinando III de' Medici, Grand Prince of Tuscany. (Dedications were often a way to try to gain favour - and financial support of prominent patrons). Although Vivaldi sold much of his music through commissioned manuscripts, he also gained some profit from the printed sales of his compositions. And so this work became the most influential and innovative collection of orchestral music of the first half of the eighteenth century and had a tremendous impact on composers in Northern Europe. It was published as his "Opus No. 3" around 1710-11 in Amsterdam by Estienne Roger, one of the most esteemed printers of music in all of Europe, and its appearance brought Vivaldi fame all over the continent. It also attracted a number of musicians to come to Venice for the purpose of studying violin technique and performance practice under the Master himself. Others paid him the more subtle compliment of making arrangements of his music (such as J.S. Bach, who arranged five of work's concertos for keyboard).
Composed of twelve concerti for one, two, or four violins and strings, "L' estro armonico" is a brilliant tribute to Vivaldi's unlimited creative talents and his ability to write concertos that are refreshingly diverse; in all twelve compositions the variety and subtlety of the myriad moods he creates is quite astounding. The eighth work in the set is the Concerto in A minor, RV 522, a three-movement work for two solo violins concertino (one out of four in the set that are "double concertos") plus orchestral ripieno of violins, violas, cello, and basso continuo.
The opening Allegro begins with the ripieno ensemble stating a grand and powerful theme that that cascades down an A minor scale and that will be the primary motive used by the strings. In between the tutti sections, the two soloists engage in no less energetic but more introspective "conversations" between themselves, playing both separately and in imitation of each other. The movement is quite lively, but somehow there is dramatic tension in the music rather than joy. It is said that this concerto dramatizes Vivaldi's impressions of the man to whom he dedicated "L'estro armonico," a most distinguished patron of music described as a "champion of debauchery, dissipa­tion, and intemperance." (Incidentally, through his patronage of the instrument maker Bartolomeo Cristofori, Ferdinando made possible the invention of the piano).
In our first music collaboration, my fellow TH-camr Russty sequenced his own version of the piece and gave me the MIDI to do my own "Switched-On" version. I modified some of my basic timbre pre-sets and added some "non-imitative chiff" (a description Wendy Carlos used in her liner notes for 1969's "The Well-Tempered Synthesizer," the follow up to her ground-breaking "Switched-On Bach" of 1968). The "electronic fire flies" as I call them add a breath of extra interest to the kitschy throw-back style of Carlos' early analog Moog work.
AS ALWAYS, THE USE OF HEADPHONES WILL GREATLY ENHANCE THE LISTENING EXPERIENCE.

[@rodolfo0506]

Peak emotion to me. This piece remembers me my daughter. She won a Yamaha competition in Caracas with this piece in 1990

[@CareyRMeltz]

Awh, that's great. I'm really glad enjoyed it, especially with your personal connection to the piece.

[@simoncrocket2040]

Beautiful - as always - loving the mix on this - perfect balance :)

[@CareyRMeltz]

Hi Simon, your kind comments, as always, are appreciated.

[@ProfDrislane]

It's a funny thing because the old school conductors/players used to use many sectional ritards between sections in baroque music. It is now a discredited practice, and the "period performers" use tasteful rubato occasionally to highlight surprising harmony, etc...

[@MrVigorbrasil]

Thanks for this enchanting video. Truly wonderful. A whole new perspective. Loved it.

[@CareyRMeltz]

Thanks very much Darren. I really wanted this one to have a close resemblance to Carlos' style, although this was a piece she never did. That's something that I'm always trying to do - capture her essence through other music. I hope you find other pieces on my channel to enjoy. Also, I appreciate you listening and especially for taking the time to comment.

[@aaronmann9442]

Love this piece

[@CareyRMeltz]

Glad you enjoyed. Thanks.

[@kingtutspiano]

You never fail to mezmorize. Fantastic job...

[@CareyRMeltz]

Thanks so much good sir. It was with your kindness and generosity that I am able to do this. I have many pieces in the works at the moment but have been experimenting with all sorts of new VSTi plug-ins. Some of my newly created pre-sets are almost too real but I'm able to get more into Tomita's domain with them. I'm currently working on Copland's "Fanfare for the Common Man" now and turning it into a space fantasy. I also need to update you on something incredible that's been presented to me - to collaborate and develop a live performance of "Baroque-tronic" music with a hybrid ensemble of 10 string players, a Moog modular performer, my DAW (for non-performed backing instruments) and me performing live through my DAW. I've been waiting for months to take this to the next level but all the music has been selected, arranged and electronically produced (this Vivaldi piece is one that is on the list to be considered). So in the mean time, I'm tweaking all the arrangements back to fully electronic and hope to eventually complete them and upload to my channel. Many of the pieces are from Wendy Carlos' "switched-on" recordings but for live and synth performance. I took the stereo placement and effects into consideration for the arranging so the 10 string players will take different positions on the stage for each piece. That way, the melodies/passages/etc. will bound from person to person to create the crisp balance and emphasis utilized throughout Carlos' work.

[@lalileon]

es hermosa tu representacion de los temas con un sintetizador...creo que es eso.....gracias por estas versiones tan originales !!!!

[@CareyRMeltz]

+LALILEON SUTIL Muchas gracias por las amables palabras. Me agrada mucho que la gente disfruta de mi afición suficiente para tomar el tiempo para comentar. Aclamaciones.
Thank you very much for the kind words. It pleases me so much that people enjoy my hobby enough to take the time to comment. Cheers.

[@youtubeviewer7030]

Mike hankinson and his punty sythersizer brought me here the classical synthesiser great album

[@top40researcher31]

if you played this at the speed of 1.25 you get it at same tempo as mike Hankinson from the album the classical sythersizer

[@alejandrodmsosa]

exquisita transcripcion!

[@ProfDrislane]

I really like the way to did this track; it's just that the rits detract in my opinion. I like your Bach arrangements too!

[@CareyRMeltz]

+Michael Drislane Well that's interesting. You know, I had originally experimented on this piece and only put the "rits" between sections and of course, at the end... Then, a (former) fellow TH-camr (and retired professional violinist) collaborated with me and while he sequenced this to be played in Sibelius using "real" instruments, he gave me the MIDI to do my synthesized version. Once Halloween is done (if you're interested you can check out my Facebook page and see some of the character make ups I've done over the years... facebook.com/carey.meltz/photos_albums) I can easily spend the time to carry out what I described in my original response and then make arrangements with you to transfer the MP3 if that will suit you. :) (PS, I was just curious why you wanted the changes as I've had several people contact me wanting to use various pieces in commercial projects).

[@josemiguelalvarado6491]

¡EXTRAORDINARIO! Querido Carey R.Meltz te pido permiso para utilizar este video en un congreso que estamos programando para musicalizar el evento. Un abrazo desde Argentina.

[@CareyRMeltz]

+José Miguel Alvarado
WOW Saludos desde Canadá. Muchas Gracias Jose! Usted es el más agradable de usar mi vídeo, pero por favor, hágamelo saber más acerca de su evento. ¿Cómo encontró mi video y cómo va a presentarlo? Si te gusta esta visualización, he hecho una serie de otros que también pueden interesarle.
Me parece que tienen un número cada vez mayor de suscriptores de habla hispana y me parece muy interesante conocer las características demográficas de los que les gusta mi música. Yo nunca he estudiado español (sólo en alemán, francés y hebreo) pero tengo tantos mensajes españolas - Casi no necesito Google Translate para entenderlas ahora. :) (Sí necesito el traductor para escribir, sin embargo). Me parece que hace un buen trabajo de convertir los comentarios entre inglés y español con, ya la inversa.
Espero volver a escuchar de usted pronto!
WOW Greetings from Canada. Thank you so much Jose! You are most welcome to use my video but please let me know more about your event. How did you find my video and how will you present it? If you like this visualization, I have done a number of others that might also interest you.
I seem to have a growing number of Spanish-speaking subscribers and I find it so interesting to know the demographics of those who like my music. I've never studied Spanish (German, French and Hebrew only) but I get so many Spanish messages - I almost don't need Google Translate to understand them now. :) (I do need the translator to write, however). I find it does a good job of converting the comments between Enlish and Spanish, and the reverse.
Hope to hear back from you soon!

[@josemiguelalvarado6491]

Hi Carey, my greetings from Bahia Blanca city, Buenos Aires province, Argentine. I find the video loking for electronic clasic music . Now in spanish....La ciudad de Bahia Blanca es una ciudad- puerto (de aguas profundas), la mas importante de sud américa. Es una ciudad muy culta en todos los aspectos, aqui nacio el Dr Cesar Milstein ganador del premio Nobel, tambien nació aquí el famoso jugador de basketball Manu Ginobilli (do you know them?) Yo trabajo en la Univerdidad Nacional del Sur, y este bello video se vería muy bien en uno de los descansos del Congreso que estamos organizando...si podés colocar tu nombre en todo el video sería muy bueno para darte crédito a tu excelente trabajo...un abrazo y saludos desde el fin del mundo. Mike. God bless you.

[@CareyRMeltz]

+José Miguel Alvarado
Miguel, estoy profundamente humilde y honrado de que usted consideraría mi video para ser utilizado de tal manera. Mi nombre ya está en el video pero pude editarlo para incluir mi canal de TH-cam para que otros puedan buscar más música en mi página. Podría producir una salida de mayor resolución y luego subir a mi cuenta de DropBox y enviar por correo electrónico el enlace a usted. ¿Sería esto aceptable? Por favor avise al hacer esto se requiere que voy a tener que volver a crear la nueva versión. Espero que tal vez habrá un sitio web para el evento que usted ha descrito, como me gustaría disfrutar de echarle un vistazo. Mis gracias de nuevo por su interés y amables palabras. Envíame un mensaje privado por lo que puede. :)
Mike, I am deeply humbled and honoured that you would consider my video to be used in such a way. My name is already in the video but I could edit it to include my TH-cam channel so that others might look to more music on my page. I could produce a higher resolution output and then upload to my DropBox account and email the link to you. Would this be acceptable? Please advise when this would be required as I will have to recreate the new version. I hope that perhaps there will be a web site for the event you have described, as I would enjoy checking it out. My thanks again for your interest and kind words. Please send me a message so I can reply back to you in private. :)

[@josemiguelalvarado6491]

Dear Carey, gracias por responder, aun no hemos hecho las pruebas de audio y video asique no puedo responder en cuanto a la calidad del video que se encuentra en TH-cam, y creo que por ahora no es necesario que realices otra nueva versión...bueno nuevamente gracias por contestar y en cuanto tenga novedades del evento te lo haré saber. Hasta pronto.

[@CareyRMeltz]

Comprobar y ver si el formato es aceptable cuando sea conveniente. Puedo volver a crear una versión de alta definición con facilidad. Sólo házmelo saber..

[@caboosemcgrief]

would it be acceptable to use your piece in a video i'm making?

[@CareyRMeltz]

Liz S Certainly but please email me the details of how this will fit into your video first: [e-mail]. For non-commercial use I only ask that you credit me and link my channel. For commercial use, this can be discussed further. I would ask that you message me so I can send you a high quality file of your choice. Thank you for asking.

[@ProfDrislane]

Can you upload a version without the tempo changes (ritardandi)?

[@CareyRMeltz]

+Michael Drislane Michael, I could probably go back to my original Mixcraft file and remove them, export all the instrument tracks and then load them into the previous Audition session (which has all of the track settings, i.e. volume, panning, reverb & other effects) but I'd need to know why you want me to do this. Perhaps I could output the mix down as an MP3 and email it to you? At the moment, I'm very heavily involved in my other favourite (seasonal) hobby with is prosthetic make up and I'm creating this year's Halloween creation. InBox me if necessary. :)

[@top40researcher31]

interesting its credit to bach