A REFRESHING
BREEZE OF WIND MUSIC ON DISCS
A dozen Vivaldi concertos
are among recent delights
Compared
with violinists, cellists or pianists,
players of wind instruments have a paucity
of music to choose from when they seek
solo materials. Although there are a number
of masterly works by great composers,
most music for winds has been written
by players who regarded themselves primarily
as performers and composed only to provide
themselves with something to play. Equally
popular was (and is) the practice of taking
works composed for other instruments and
arranging them for winds. Yet, as can
be seen by a number of recently released
recordings, wind soloists can put together
highly enjoyable programs.
Antonio
Vivaldi was an inexhaustable provider
of concertos for his favored instruments,
and his 37 for bassoon and string orchestra
are exceeded in number only by those for
violin. The bassoonist Daniel Smith has
embarked on an admirable project of recording
all of them, with volume 1 (Vox Cum Laude
MCD 10053) and volume 2 (Vox Cum Laude
MCD 10054); both available on compact
discs recently released. Readers seeking
to disprove the familiar quip that "Vivaldi
did not write 600 concertos but the same
concerto 600 times" will find abundant
evidence on these discs, each of which
contains six virtuostic and imaginatively
varied works. Mr. Smith, and the English
Chamber Orchestra, conducted by Philip
Ledger, play with great spirit and musiciality.
-
Paul Turok
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