Gramophone: Critic's Choice. Vivaldi's four works with lute have long raised questions about which instrument he intended, since he notated the lute part in the treble clef. Weighing the evidence of the sources, Jakob Lindberg concludes that the music was meant for the Italian archlute, and this is the first recording to use one. Three of the works – the Trios in C major and G minor and the Concerto in D major – date from the early 1730s and were dedicated to the Bohemian count Johann Joseph von Wrtby. The Concerto for viola d'amore and lute, RV 540, was first played at the Pietà in Venice in 1740 for a visiting Saxon prince, and its slow movement shows off the shimmering sound of the viola d'amore over a gentle arpeggiated lute accompaniment. Lindberg is joined by Monica Huggett, Nils-Erik Sparf and fellow musicians.