Naïve Vivaldi Edition + Open Vivaldi Playlist

"The Vivaldi Edition, a recording venture conceived by the Italian musicologist Alberto Basso and the independent label Naïve, is one of the most ambitious recording projects of the twentyfirst century. Its principal objective is to record the massive collection of Vivaldi autograph manuscripts preserved today in the Biblioteca Nazionale in Turin, some 450 works. Incredibly, this is the private library of scores Vivaldi had at home at the time of his death in Vienna in 1741 and includes his extant operas, hundreds of concertos, sacred compositions and cantatas. Much of this music has not been heard since the 18th century. The release of more than 100 CDs, which began in 2000, will extend over the next ten years.

The Vivaldi Edition's goal is to make this extraordinary wealth of music available to the public and at the same time to reveal the full genius of Vivaldi, not only as a composer of instrumental music, for which he was already known, but as the creator of some of the 18th-century’s most exhilarating vocal music. " Naïve official site

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All titles released so far are available on Spotify, except for Vol. 8, the most over-recorded classical works ever, The Four Seasons. I compiled a playlist for all titles with TDP (Tesori del piemonte, Treasures of Piedmont) volume numbers, in reverse order. So it goes like Vol.47, 46... Vol.10, Vol,7. Vol.1-6 and Vol.9 are not Vivaldi works, therefor not included here. And I also made a separate playlist for Naïve's Vivaldi recordings without TDP numbers, like opera highlights, sacred arias and new discoveries (one track per album, to keep this one neat). The latter one also function as a Vivaldi Edition appreciation playlist, and I will keep adding standout tracks that grab me when I listen to this Edition. You are welcome to add in your favourite tracks. For such a gigantic Edition, I am desperately in need for good recommendations like this.

Here are the Spotify playlists: Naïve: Vivaldi Edition (1521 tracks, 39 out of 40 released volumes) And Listen to Naïve Vivaldi Edition (open playlist, 11 tracks as of 2010, Jan. 16th) Enjoy. Everybody needs sunny Vivaldi, especially in this cold winter.

The official site doesn't list all titles, for complete discography, check out Presto and Arkivmusic. Press Ctrl (CMD on Macs) + G to browse in album view.

Music on The HBO TV Drama: The Sopranos

I hope you don't mind I post a pop playlist here, or were you looking forward to this and already got tired of waiting? :)

Sopranos is my all time favourite show, and the music in the show is unique. Unlike most TV shows, it has no incidental music composed for the show at all. Instead, series creator David Chase personally selects all of the show's music with other producers and advisers. Each episode's closing credits sequence features a unique song, well except for the famous final episode. Check out this wiki page for more information on the music on The Sopranos.

I made my Sopranos Spotify playlist long ago, but the key track that ends one of the best episodes Pine Barrens, Cecilia Bartoli sings the aria Sposa son disprezzata from a Vivaldi opera, was missing till it was added to Spotify this week. Here's the Spotify playlist of The Sopranos (71 tracks, 4.6 hours). It features all the ending songs, as well as the famous theme song Woke Up This Morning (Chosen One Mix) that plays at the beginning of every episode, and Journey's Don't Stop Believin' that ends the whole show.

As much I like the show, I cannot help to ask myself: "What is this all about?" when it ends. Unlike Orson Welles in his Touch Of Evil, Tony Soprano disdainfully say no to any possibility of redemption from the very beginning, and his absurd self-righteousness sometime brought the show into the realm of comedies. Of all the characters, I sympathize with Tony's son the most. To me the most moving scene of the show happened when he burst out crying to his shrink: "Why can't people just get along?" The show would made much more sense if we see more moments like this, in which children ask about the simple yet neglected truth and make the whole adult world speechless.

For other songs heard in the show, also check out The Sopranos and Music You Heard On The Sopranos.