There are numerous recordings of Vivaldi's recorder concertos (some of them possibly for transverse flute), and Dutch player Stefan Temmingh is correct in saying that recorder players must take seriously the task of rethinking them. Temmingh, as it happens, rethinks the concertos rather profoundly on several counts, resulting in readings that may inspire strikingly different reactions. First of all, although only Vivaldi is mentioned in the album title, there are six Bach preludes framing the six Vivaldi concertos. The ...
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There are numerous recordings of Vivaldi's recorder concertos (some of them possibly for transverse flute), and Dutch player Stefan Temmingh is correct in saying that recorder players must take seriously the task of rethinking them. Temmingh, as it happens, rethinks the concertos rather profoundly on several counts, resulting in readings that may inspire strikingly different reactions. First of all, although only Vivaldi is mentioned in the album title, there are six Bach preludes framing the six Vivaldi concertos. The purpose of this, Temmingh writes, is "to provide a point of calm which opens and sharpens the senses for Vivaldi." Leaving aside the fact that this notion would have been incomprehensible to the two composers, there's no evidence that these genres were even combined in this way. Nor is there any for the unusual continuo configurations used for both the Bach and the Vivaldi, including such instruments as psaltery, triple harp, and chest organ, although apparently these were in the...
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