ANTONIO VIVALDI Concertos for two violins Amandine Beyer, Giuliano Carmignola

Vivaldi’s double concertos resemble jousts: ‘the standards are raised, the bystanders comment, analyse, compare, speculate, the betting counter is open’, writes Olivier Fourés. But, he continues, the joust is not for real. It is ‘the stage of a theatre where two solitudes, within a group, meet up, then both size each other up and comfort each other’. There is bound to be comparison between the two protagonists, but in the end the triumph will be collective. And the least one can say is that Amandine Beyer and her illustrious guest Giuliano Carmignola have breathed new life into this dazzling form of musical theatre!