Francesco Geminiani’s “Folia” Concerto in D minor is an arrangement of a popular sonata for violin and harpsichord by Corelli. The Venice Baroque Orchestra performed it at Zankel Hall on Monday evening, with vivid contributions from Luca Mares, the first violinist, and Daniele Bovo, cellist.

C'est avec un infini plaisir qu'on savoure ce Concerto pour violoncelle RV 419 en subtiles tonalités «mineures» de Vivaldi et où le soliste Daniele Bovo fait étincelle avec ses «allegros» endiablés, ses mesures dextrement toniques et mesurées, ses embardées vite maîtrisées...

[...] and a Cello Concerto in A minor (R 419) between Ms. Genaux’s arias [...] Daniele Bovo, the cellist, gave fluid, ambitiously embellished reading [...] The concerto, in its way, was as exciting as Ms. Genaux’s performances.

But the real pleasure of the night? The terrifically dynamic and hugely entertaining playing of the VBO [...]. Somehow they turned each of these mini Venetian bites into three-course banquets – most of all in the winsome Concerto for two cellos, delivered as if it were folk music improvised on the spot rather than composed almost three centuries ago.

In between arias, they [Andrea Marcon and his Venetian players] rattled off a succession of Vivaldi concertos, of which the C major in the French style and the G minor for two cellos were the most interesting..

C'est partiellement dans ce même répertoire qu'ils se présentaient à Bruxelles, avec deux extraits d'opéras [...] sertis dans un foisonnement de petits concertos de Vivaldi pour cordes et continuo, avec en bonus un concerto pour deux violoncelles (en sol mineur, RV 531) qui allait se révéler un des sommets du concert.

Deshalb sind die Klangspezialisten meist unterwegs, um kühle Räume wie den Münchner Herkulessaal zum Funkeln zu bringen – mit Juwelen wie [...] dem Concerto RV 531, bei dem sich zwei Cellisten ein Dialog-Duell im Geist der Commedia dell´arte liefern.

Von den Ripieno-Konzerten unterschied sich das Concerto g-Moll RV 531 durch seine Soloparte für Violoncelli, furios und in lebendigem Dialog ausgeführt von F. G. und Daniele Bovo.

Vivaldi [...] responded with typical Venetian excess a blizzard of compositions. The Venitian Baroque's rendition of them was joyous, rollicking, and reached a crescendo of communication with the beguiling cello work of Daniele Bovo in the concerto in A minor for Violoncello RV419. Bovo seemed to love what he does so deftly and his interplay with the lute player was absolutely the high point of the evening. One more standing ovation.

Cellist Daniele Bovo made a soulful work out of the cello concerto in A minor.

I don't think it's possible to get more sparkle and poetic depth out of Vivaldi's music. One magical example came in the A minor Cello Concerto, RV419. The Venetians ensured that the first movement's harmonic and tempo shifts sounded surprising, that the second's lyricism emerged eloquently, that the third's almost jazzy kick had an infectious joy. Daniele Bovo was the vivid soloist.

The 14 string musicians had a fantastic sense of ensemble playing and dynamics in RV114 and allowed their colleagues, among them the cellist Daniele Bovo in RV 419, to dazzle with impressive solos throughout the evening.

[...] poi tocca al violoncello solista di Daniele Bovo nel concerto in la min. (RV 419): esecuzione originale nel quadro della serata, dato che il solista imposta l'interpretazione sull'irruenza delle variazioni agogiche, sorretto da una sonora cavata e da un virtuosismo spettacolare.