Mancini, F: Flute Concerto No. 1 in C minor

Here's a second release from Brilliant Classics of the Neapolitan musician Francesco Mancini (1672–1737), a leading light in his city's culture of composition and education as director of the Conservatorio di S Maria di Loreto, maestro of the Royal Chapel and composer of 29 operas and more than 200 cantatas.

His modern reputation largely rests on his recorder sonatas (available on 94058); the new release extends our knowledge of that cheerful aesthetic to his recorder concertos, in similarly sprightly, periodinstrument performances by young musicians with a background in this repertoire.

Corina Marti studied at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis, famed nursery of talent in the performance of early music, and the concertos are led from the keyboard by another Swiss-based musician, Alexandra Nigito, who has already proved her expertise in this music with recordings of cantatas by Pasquini (on 94225). The recorder concertos are more demanding to play than to listen to. One unusual stylistic trademark is the preponderance of fugue in the fast movements, but that does not imply a dryly academic style – like Mancini's sonatas, the concertos are full of memorable and deftly surprising melodies.