Vivaldi wrote hundreds of concertos, nearly all of them for relatively conventional instruments. But his eight works for the viola d’amore — the plangent, full-bodied stringed instrument that is ...

The dry viol tones float like gondolas over the tinkling harpsichord, and yet are suitably dark and rich in the tomb-like Concerto funebre. Savall leads with solemnity through his curling lines. The ...