Album: Jean-Guihen Queyras, Akademie FÜr Alte Musik Berlin, Vivaldi: Cello Concertos (Harmonia Mundi)

Jean-Guihen Queyras here tackles eight of the 27 Vivaldi concertos written for the cello, along with two brief Sinfonias by his contemporary Antonio Caldara, weak consommés at the side of the Venetian master's rich sauces.

The timbre and sonority of Queyras's instrument imparts a rich, antique flavour, while his deft bowing – as on the finale to the "Concerto in G minor" – perfectly embodies the Vivaldian qualities of delight and vivacity. The album is full of memorable moments, such as the way the Larghetto section of the "Cello Concerto in F major" slows and fades like the sun setting, before the Allegro rouses it to exultant life.

DOWNLOAD THIS: Cello Concerto in F major; Concerto in G minor