Savall, from Venice... with love

In his reconstructive pursuit of past spaces and atmospheres, Jordi Savall opted in Monday's concert at L’Auditori for the evocation of the Ospedale della Pietà, a Venetian charitable institution dating back to the 13th century which, between the 17th and 18th centuries, experienced one of the most splendid moments in its musical history. Antonio Vivaldi worked there between 1703 and 1740, and inevitably left his very personal mark, in addition to a numerous catalog of sacred and profane compositions.For the occasion, Savall has assembled a female orchestra, Les Musiciennes des Nations, with Lina Tur Bonet from Ibiza as concertmaster and soloist. To the instrumental ensemble, we must add the women members of La Capella Reial de Catalunya, who, with good skill and thanks to the always wise preparation of Lluís Vilamajó, presented two choral pieces by Vivaldi: the Magnificat in G minor and the celebrated Gloria in D major, in this case only for female voices, and which did not make us miss the four-part mixed version.Lina Tur Bonet exhibited a sinuous and immaculate phrasing in the second of the violin concertos (La Stravaganza, from opus 4), after during the Magnificat she had had a problem when a string broke from the first music stand. Something strange was happening, because during the performance of the first of the concertos (the very brilliant Concerto per la solennità di San Lorenzo) Tur did not seem very comfortable and the tuning did not always seem accurate, despite the brilliant and long cadenza of the first movement. Savall took advantage of the string change to explain the sonic difference between metal strings and gut strings, which ended up winning over the audience (something habitual with the master from Igualada, always a good communicator).Before, vocal rigor and neatness took over the Magnificat performed in the solo parts —as would happen with the Gloria— by singers from La Capella Reial. The choral ensemble excelled in truly anthological passages, such as the end of the Et misericordia eius and the entire Fecit potentiam.The good construction of the choral works, the vocal-instrumental conjunction and the brilliance of Vivaldi's music were the ingredients of a good night of Venetian music, well served by most illustrious ambassadors.