James Orford - Vivaldi: L’estro armonico (The Royal Academy of Music Bicentenary Series) (2021)

As the Royal Academy of Music approaches its Bicentenary in 2022, Linn’s Bicentenary Series continues with four new debut albums from the exceptional recipients of the Academy’s 2019/20 Bicentenary Scholarships scheme: Roberts Balanas, Margarita Balanas, Ariel Lanyi and James Orford. In his particularly notable recording, organist James continues the series of transcriptions of Vivaldi’s L’estro armonico which was left incomplete by its previous author, none other than Johann Sebastian Bach. James says: ‘I had developed a love and admiration for L’estro armonico, and I wanted to be able to play them myself! Not only that, but as Bach demonstrated better than anyone, the Italian concerto form transfers itself very well onto the organ … All these things combined to convince me that I should transcribe all ten concertos, which when added to Bach’s two concertos, would complete L’estro armonico for organ. I hope that by doing this, more people might hear the music of Vivaldi and be moved by its exuberance, energy and beauty.’