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The Pleasures of Audiophilia
One: Hearing an outstanding performance of Vivaldi R.V. 558—the concerto for, as the composer called them, Diverse Instruments—on the local classical radio station, making a mental note to order it on Amazon.com, and returning home to find that one already owns the precious record.
Two: Transferring that disc to the car and soaking it up all through the week to come.
Three: Playing it for my readers, for the satisfaction of their exquisite taste.
That is Andrew Manze leading the Academy of Ancient Music on period instruments. Among them, the couple of violins in tromba marina specified by Vivaldi, who himself directed the performance of this piece afore the Elector Federico Christiano, prencipe reale di Polonia, and son of the king, in 1740.
The tromba marina, you should know, does not at the present moment exist; it was an absurd medieval instrument with one gut, cutting the silhouette of a mariner’s inter-ship talking horn; R.V. 558 calls not for the genuine artifact but for a set of violins and trumpets playing the very same notes simultaneously. This concord was evidently thought to approximate the tromba marina. I cannot say if it does, but the effect on its own is wonderful.
The other divers sound machines? In the development passages will appear such exotics as recorders (from whose beauty the elementary school industry has driven everyone), chalumeaux, mandolins, and therobos.
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