Does anybody have a recommendation as to whose recorded version of Vivaldi’s Guitar Concerto: Adagio you like best? The version I have is not so good–I know there are better versions out there. What can ya do for me, Dopers?
There are several that I really like. I find that the Vivaldi guitar pieces are easy enough that even the bottom tiered professional classical guitarists can pull them off well. I would recommend staying away from speed demon virtuosos when listening to the adagio movements (such as Pepe Romero for example) and going with one who is willing to relax a little. I did a wonderful arrangement of this for my guitar quartet when we were still functional and it was quite enjoyable. However, you can’t get much better than Julian Bream or John Williams performance-wise for this piece. It is really hard when you limit it to a specific movement of a piece rather than the whole concerto to give you a good version. I reiterate that the adagio movement is easy enough that even the lowest rung professional performer should pull off a good version of it. The higher rung performers will make the other movements faster and cleaner.