I first played the Vivaldi cello sonatas in the late 1950s when I was 12 or 13 years old. I always have loved the pieces, and go back to them from time to time. Each time I go back, I play the pieces anew, because I am a different person in each age I achieve. [...]

What does it mean to have a basso ostinato pattern of thirteen whole note measures? How are the measures grouped? Is there ambiguity that lends interest? How do the cellist and harpsichord gain so much pleasure, in fact, receive ineffably profound emotions in playing the same thirteen whole notes 26 times? (Once for the “theme” [...]