Il Giardino Armonico

Director: Giovanni Antonini

The Musicians

Giovanni Antonini – flute

Enrico Onofri, Stefano Barneschi, Luca Giardini, Liana Mosca – Violins I

Marco Bianchi, Alberto Stevanin, Maria Cristina Vasi – Violins II

Gianni Maraldi, Elena Confortini – Viol

Marco Testori, Elena Russo – Violoncello

Vanni Moretto – Contrabass

Riccardo Doni - Clavichord

Program

Scheidt - Battaglia à 5

Biber - Battalia à 10

Das liederliche Schwarmen der Musquettirer, Mars, Die Schlacht undt Lamento der Verwundten, mit Anen imitirt und Baccho dedicirt, Ao 1673

Allegro – Allegro – presto – der Mars – Presto – Aria – die Schlacht - Lamento

Handel - Concerto grosso en si bémol majeur op. VI no.7 pour cordes et basse continue

Largo – Allegro –  Largo  e piano – Andante – Hornpipe 

Vivaldi – Concerto en do majeur RV 444 pour petite flûte, cordes et basse continue

Allegro non molto – Largo – Allegro molto

Locatelli – Concerto en mi bémol majeur op. VII no.6 « Il pianto di Arianna »

Andante – Allegro – Andante –Allegro -   Largo  – Largo andante – Grave -

 Allegro -  Largo

Handel – Concerto grosso en ré majeur op. VI n0.5 pour cordes et basse continue

Larghetto – Allegro – Presto –  Largo  - Allegro

Bach – Symphonie en si mineur, Wq 182 no.2
Allegretto – Larghetto - Presto

Il Giardino Armonico

Director Giovanni Antonini

With its unique sonority and unbelievably rich repertoire Il Giardino Armonico is one of the most exceptional baroque ensembles of our time. Founded in  Milan  in 1985 it brought together young musicians who had been trained in  Europe ’s most renowned conservatories for interpreting music on period instruments. 

Well appreciated in Italy as well as abroad, the ensemble is invited regularly to perform in the great concert halls all over the world, including the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Wigmore Hall in London, the Tonhalle in Zurich, Victoria Hall in Geneva, the Theatre of the Champs-Elysées and the Châtelet Theatre in Paris, the Palais des Beaux-Arts in Brussels, the Old Opera in Frankfurt, the Konzerthaus and the Musikverein in Vienna, the Stateopera in Berlin, Carnegie Hall in New York, the Library of Congress in Washington, the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow, the Glinka Hall and the Philharmonia in St. Petersburg, the Oji Hall in Tokyo, the Opera House in Sydney and the Konserthus in Oslo. In 2005, the Ensemble will perform at the Festival of Salzbourg.

Their recordings with Teldec have received the highest distinctions: Gramaphone Award, Caecilia Prize, Foundation Cini of Venice, The Golden Diapason, The World Shock of Music, The Grand Prize of the Discophiles, Echo-Prize… Among their records are The Four Seasons and the complete Concerti de Camera by Vivaldi, IlPreteo: Concerti a più strumenti with the participation of Christoph Coin, Bach’s Brandenbourg Concertos, a Haendel recital with Eva Mei, and the Vivaldi Album with Cecilia Bartoli (recorded with Decca) which received the Grammy Award. The CD Viaggio Musicale is consecrated to sixteenth century Italian music and their last recording, Musica Barocca, includes works by J.S. Bach, Vivaldi, A.Marcello and Albinioni. In his series “Artist Portrait” Teldec recorded in December 2002 the ensemble’s latest CD.

The ensemble collaborated with international soloists, among them are Cecilia Bartoli, Katia and Marielle Labèque, Eva Mei, Sumi Jo, Sara Mingardo, Bernarda Fink, Lynne Dawson, Christoph Prégardien, Véronique Gens, Viktoria Mullova and Giuliano Carmignola. Il Giardino Armonica has performed in Monteverdi’s Orfeo, Pergolesi’s La serva padrona, Conti’s oratorios Il martirio di  San Lorenzo ,  Agrippina ,  Il  Trionfo del Tempo e del Disinganno , and Haendel’s Resurrection and J.A.Hasse’s oratorio The Pilgrims to the Sepulcher of Our Lord. 

Il Giardino Armonico is directed by Giovanni Antonini.

Press Reviews

The New York Times  -   22/02/2001

Though Il Giardino Armonico specializes in Baroque music there is nothing stuffy or pedantic about the dynamic playing of these 14 musicians. Giovanni Antonini, their wiry, shaggy-haired director, is not just a stylish conductor but a virtuoso on the flautino, a Baroque instrument close to a soprano recorder. In the Concerto in C, it was amazing to hear volleys of runs coming from an instrument with such an endearingling pipsqueak sound that looks like a fable piccolo.

Le Soir, Nantes  -  8/01/2003

Au rang des pionniers du renouveau baroque italien, on ne manquera pas de rendre hommage au Giardino Armonico. Ce célèbre ensemble milanais passe pour collectionner les sensations fortes en peaufinant à la fois son jeu d’ensemble depuis 1985. (...) Leur CD des «Quatre Saisons», transfigurées de A à Z avec un sens des contrastes qui tient parfois du «riff» des rockeurs. Décoiffant!

BBC Music Magazine  -  March 2001

Il Giardino Armonico deserves full credit for creating such an imaginative and coherent programme. [...] The Milan-based players clearly relish the music’s audacity, and quite apart from their admirable technique, they draw on an impressive emotive range - from tender intimacy to brazen exuberance.

The National Post  -   16/01/2001

With about 100 concerts a year, most of them outside of  Italy , they've become one of the most sought-after baroque orchestras on the international scene. And the most important thing about Il Giardino's fairy-tale success story is that their fame is well-deserved.

The Strad  -  July 2001 (interview to Viktoria Mullova)

When describing Il Giardino Armonico's recording of Vivaldi's Four Seasons, her voice crescendos and she spontaneously leaps out of her chair to find me a copy. "Brilliant, crazy and unique!" she exclaims.

The Record Entertainment  -   04/01/2001

Baroque Superstars. (...) If the word of baroque music performance was a mountain,  Italy 's Il Giardino Armonico ensemble would be perched within walking distance of the peak.

The National Post  -   17/01/2001

It was an evening rich in imagination and colour.

San Francisco Cronicle  -  03/04/2000

Whatever the repertoire, there was no denying the splendor of this group's execution. From awesome flights of solo showmanship to magnificently blended ensemble playing, these musicians brought spirit and care to everything they touched.
 

Midi Libre  -  07/02/2002

Il Giardino Armonico, plein de fogue. Une malle aux trésors: duels, complicités, passions. Une flûte démoniaque. [...] Dans l'exécution, il y a une passion, une facilité technique qui est à la fois celle des grands interprètes et celle des artistes qui jouent beaucoup et souvent.

Répertoire  -  October 2000

Viva Vivaldi - 10 de Répertoire

... il faut bien dire que le discours instrumental est d'une beauté et d'une concentration remarquables. [...] On retiendra aussi un orchestre qui démontre que l'on peut jouer vite et piano de construire un éventail de nuances progressives, des variations de tempo cohérentes et pas seulement dictées par le goût des eddets gratuits (suivez mon regard vers d'autres Italiens).

Diapason  -  October 2001

Viva Vivaldi - Diapason d'Or

Que dire des deux concertos où brillent Luca Pianca et Giovanni Antonini, si ce n'est, pour manier la redondance et risquer le pléonasme, qu'ils sont un régal de roi?

The Gazette  -   17/01/2002

The eight men played with delicate refinement, superb co-ordination and blending, and the violins never sounded scratchy or out of tune. Thus, many flowers in their harmonic garden displayed nice colours and fanciful shapes.

The  Toronto  Star

Or, to change metaphor, these Italians made music the way one imagines they make love, drink wine and eat pasta. It is all done with consuming zest for life. (...) Frankly, I've never encountered so physically demonstrative a recorder player. You'd have thought there was a basket in front of him containing a reluctant cobra. Over the top playing? Perhaps, but are we in a position to deny the possibility that the Italian audiences who first encountered this music, heard it performed any less lustily?

The Record  -  15/01/2001

In fact, the intuitive sense of togetherness is one of the most remarkable features of this group. Their entrances were impeccable, dynamic changes were perfectly matched, and soloists and continuo players maintained constant communication by means of frequent eye contact, lots of swaying and gesturing, and even, on occasion, some energetic foot-tapping. (...) The group was called back for two encores... and received three standing ovations accompanied by bravos and some unrestrained cheers.