It seems like ages ago when I bought on LP the first recording ever of Vivaldi´s Serenata for Paris, La Senna Festeggiante. That was a pioneer recording with period instruments, certainly for 1978, with the Cappella Coloniensis and Claudio Scimone. It also marked the recording debut of one of my favourite sopranos, Lella Cuberli, and it still is a most beautiful recording. Then came the excellent Concerto Italiano version with Rinaldo Alessandrini, probably still THE choice recording for this work.
A nice and well sung version with The King´s Consort and Robert King didn´t displace Alessandrini´s supremacy, certainly not in Vivaldi, and more or less the same can be said of this newcomer. La Risonanza has made some gorgeous recordings of Handel and Alessandro Scarlatti cantatas, their musicians are marvelous, and when accompanying the likes of soprano Roberta Invernizzi the results are indeed outstanding. There´s nothing wrong with Yetzabel Arias performance, also a frequent guest in the Scarlatti recordings, but glorious Roberta is in a different league, and if she had been chosen for this recording, it would have been a real threat for Alessandrini. But the Concerto Italiano, superbly sung, played and recorded remains numero uno for La Senna Festeggiante.
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