Vivaldi: Concerto in A minor, RV 108

This production features seven "Concerti per flauto" by Antonio Vivaldi, perhaps the most famous Italian Baroque composer of all.

Thanks to the discovery of Bartolomeo Bismantova’s manuscript treatise "Compendio Musicale" of 1677 and the performers’ extraordinarily spirited music-making, Vivaldi's works can now be heard with a new freshness. No fewer than six differently bored and tuned instruments were used, and they cast a surprising new light on Vivaldi's world of sounds.

This milestone of the Arcana catalogue returns with new artwork, new catalogue number (previously A330) and a new cover featuring ‘Boy with Flute’ by the Venetian painter Domenico Maggiotto. All the recorder concertos on this CD were written expressly for flauto or flautino and show the imagination, delicacy, freshness, virtuosity and sometimes even melancholy, which Vivaldi put into his writing for this instrument. Oberlinger has intentionally chosen tuning at 440 Hz since, in Venice, in Vivaldi’s time, tuning was higher than in neighbouring musical centres such as Rome. With this high tuning, the sound of the gentle gut strings becomes clearer and more brilliant. Dorothee Oberlinger is an expressive virtuoso who is seen as one of the best recorder players in the world. She collaborates particularly intensively with the top Italian period ensemble Sonatori de la Gioiosa Marca, with whom she has given many concerts throughout Europe. Their joint CD of concertos by Antonio Vivaldi with violinist Giuliano Carmignola, has received numerous awards from the international musical press including Diapason d’or de l’année.

This production features seven "Concerti per flauto" by Antonio Vivaldi, perhaps the most famous Italian Baroque composer of them all.

Swiss flutist Conrad Steinmann’s career has taken him to all the major European music centres as well as to Russia, the Near East, Japan and Australia. He performs principally with the “London Baroque”, the “Ensemble 415” and with his recorder ensemble “diferencias”.

The recorder only features in a handful of Vivaldi’s concertos. Well known for being an exceptional violinist, Vivaldi’s innovative style is apparent in his compositions for other instruments too. He used the same technique as when he composed for the violin, using a musical language marked by gigantic tonal ranges whether or not they were models for this in their respective repertoire. The result is a concert repertoire that is madly virtuosic and music of the greatest variety. Some could even say his recorder concertos represent the greatest challenge in the baroque repertoire.

Michael Schneider, regarded as one of today’s best German recorder players, presents his own interpretation of this fascinating group of works.