Whether Vivaldi wrote these cantatas for an exceptionally talented singer or just decided to give others a mischievously hard time isn't known; the fact remains that they're tough assignments. If Polverelli finds them so, she gives no sign of it. She's a mezzo with a cloudless upper register and a full-throated lower one, a wide and subtly nuanced range of volume, supple and pitch-perfect. These three chamber cantatas deal with various unhappy aspects of love, and she projects them without resorting to 'grand-operatic' excess. These are performances to treasure.
The chamber concertos show Vivaldi at his most happily inventive. All those on this disc have alternative versions, and if RV97 and 105 lack something of the verve of those by Giardino Armonico they're no less infectious.
The recording is clear and very well balanced, and the vocal texts are given in three languages, including English. A thoroughly enjoyable disc.