Vivaldi: The Concertos for Piccolo Michael Schubert

• Antonio Vivaldi (1678 - 1741): Recorder Concerto in C Major, RV 444:
• 1 I. Allegro non molto 04:08
• 2 II. Largo 02:53
• 3 III. Allegro molto 02:46
• Recorder Concerto in A Minor, RV 445:
• 4 I. Allegro 04:00
• 5 II. Larghetto 03:02
• 6 III. Allegro 02:52
• Recorder Concerto in C Major, RV 443:
• 7 I. Allegro 03:46
• 8 II. Largo 05:02
• 9 III. Allegro molto 02:37
• Concerto for 2 Violins in A Minor, Op. 3 No. 8, RV 522:
• 10 I. Allegro 04:02
• 11 II. Larghetto e spirituoso 04:15
• 12 III. Allegro 02:58
• Total Runtime 42:21

Info zu Vivaldi: The Concertos for Piccolo

Antonio Vivaldi was born in Venice in 1678 and stands as the most important Italian contemporary of Johann Sebastian Bach. In 1704 he entered the priesthood and was appointed the following year violin instructor at the 'Ospedale della Pietà', an orphanage for young girls, most born out of wedlock of the mistresses of Venice's noblemen.

On and off for the next 35 years he composed various and sundry compositions for the girls' instruction and for public concerts in the Ospedale. The year 1711 saw the publication of Vivaldi's opus three, a collection of twelve diverse concerti under the title 'L'ESTRO ARMONICO', and his first collaboration with the renowned Amsterdam publisher Estìenne Roger, who was to help make Vivaldi's works known throughout Europe (and to the then composition student J. S. Bach, who learned much about the po- pular Italian style by recopying Vivaldi's works).

In 1738 Vivaldi was removed from his post at the Ospedale. With diminishing options for employment, he accepted an invitation to come to Vienna from his friend and admirer the emperor Charles. The latter promptly expired, however, leaving our hero to fend far himself abroad. The following year Vivaldi succumbed to a gastric infection. Like Mozart fifty years after him, he was afforded only the humblest of buriels, and his graveside was long ago lost under the expanding streets of Vienna. The great bulk of Vivaldi's enormous output was never published during his lifetime. The fourteen collections bearing opus numbers are the exception; over 350 violin concerti and countless concerti grossi, operas and chamber works were neglected well into the twentieth century, while still others have been destroyed or lost. Stravinsky's cynical remark, that Vivaldi composed the same concerto 400 times, represents what has been an accepted opinion of the Italian for centuries. The rediscovery of 'The Four Seasons' in 1949 ushered in the Vivaldi renaissance which has secured a due place in history for the master of the Italian baroque concerto.

In 1926 the musicologist Alberto Gentili discovered a wealth of unpublished and previously unknown original manuscripts by Vivaldi in a convent in Alessandria, Italy. After their significance became clear, their ensued a long legal battle over the publication and performance rights. Not until after World War II could the works be made public. All of the newly discovered works, together with all the other works of Vivaldi's unpublished in his lifetime have been catalogued by Peter Ryom and bear an 'R' number.

Among these are the three 'Piccolo Concertos' heard on this recording- the only known works Vivaldi composed for his smallest and most agile member of the orchestra family. The dates of com- position cannot be established with certainty.

The instrument which Vivaldi knew, the sopranino recorder, bears important differences to the modern Boehm piccolo: The recorder is inserted between the lips and played vertically, the piccolo rests on the lower lip and is played transversely; the recorder had simple holes where the piccolo has silver keys and a modern scale allowing all chromatic possibilities.

The instrument played by Mr. Schubert in this recording was crafted from grenadilla wood (body) and sterling silver (mechanism) by Philipp Hammig, Markneukirchen, East Germany, in 1990.

A note on our performance: We of the Cologne New Philharmonic revel in the progress achieved in instrumental craftsmanship over the last centuries and perform with all the vigor and vitality modern instruments allow, as in the words of the great english composer Ralph Vaughan Williams, who once said: „It is well known, that Bach and Vivaldi were dissatisfied with their orchestra's resources and were often obliged to put up with what they could get. I believe, it is our privilege and our duty, to use all the improved mechanisms invented by our instrument makers to do full justice to their immortal works“.

Michael Schubert, piccolo flute
Stefan Fílas, violin
Davide Toso, violin
Cologne New Philharmonic Orchestra
Volker Hartung, conductor

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