I don't think a musician showing off skills is mindless.

You're still missing my point.

It is one thing to show off your skills, it is one thing to show off your skills and express something in a way that is not trite and kitschy, it's another whether you're showing off your skills or not if you are doing it in a trite and kitschy way.

To me... technical skill/prowess should NOT be a factor of whether or not a piece is good. The focus also should not be on how ornamental or odd or uncommon a type or mode or scale is use for a piece or any technical details of the actual writing.

It should be focused on whether or not the piece effectively conveys the idea behind it (regardless of style or skill level) in a way that is genuine rather than in a way that is trite and kitschy.

That's also why I gave the examples of Jason Becker and Malmsteen where they both have considerable skill and play highly technical music and use uncommon scales and modes, however with Becker, the music is written in a way that it actually conveys they idea, puts the imagery in your head without words while, on the other hand, Malmsteen's typically doesn't.

It has nothing at all to do with showing off virtuosity, but when it is purely just showing off skill in an composition (that's not say an étude or something that's specifically meant for showing off skill and not conveying an idea), that is when it is simply masturbation (abstractly, via the definitions of kitschy and trite that I gave in my previous post).

I think there is some truth to this. When you get tired of Vivaldi, move on to Bach. There is no getting sick of him.

Vivaldi is like the Baroque Mozart. Bach is like the Baroque Beethoven. Well, I'd say Mozart's themes are a bit more inspired than Vivaldi's though.

Probably a big reason why he was so popular in his day, and Bach wasn't.

Oddly, the Brandenburg Concertos weren't even known in Bach's day. They were discovered like a century and a half after he wrote them and there was even some debate that they were even his. These concertos, considered the finest works of the Baroque Era, were not even published until 1850.

I have actually never heard of him..but i think i might take a look on some if his work. Let's see how he is.?

I think he was a briliiant composer who wrote some glorious music, and his popularity leads me to believe this is a common view.

Viva Vivaldi!
I enjoy playing his recorder concertos a lot.
They aren't that easy to play since you need a certain skill level and breath control
to make it sound as it should. However, it's not an extremely serious music, you can perform expressively. At the moment I'm playing the recorder concerto in F major "Tempesta di Mare".

I love Vivaldi's violins. His ability to make them weep and then turn them on like gunfire is impressive. Such a versatile instrument and wonderful composer.