Contrary to who’s listed as composer here, the real author of this set of six sonatas, subtitled Il pastor fido, may not have been Vivaldi but a French contemporary named Nicolas Chedeville, who was known to borrow often from the master (type Q8431 is Search Reviews). Musicologists who began to question the work’s provenance–in the early 1990s, shortly after these recordings were made–based their suspicions on several points. First, the work originally was scored for five performers, calling for an additional violin and musette–an instrument that Chedeville played (unlike Vivaldi) and for which he had composed. Second, and perhaps most important, Il pastor fido lacks the imagination and range characteristic of Vivaldi’s writing. When heard in succession, these sonatas begin to blur, sounding homogenous and uneventful–another telltale indication that Vivaldi had nothing to do with them.
Like Béla Drahos and colleagues (Naxos), flutist Roberto Fabbriciani, harpsichordist Robert Kohnen, and viola da gambist Carlo Denti deliver stylish performances (given what they have to work with), though the former recording is preferable if only because unlike Denti here, cellist Pál Kelemen is audible. Absolutely unessential listening.
