Baroque Recorder Concertos - Pamela Thorby - Audiophile Audition

These three "Flautino" concertos were only discovered and published for the first time in the early 1950s. The big question about them was What was a flautino? Musicologists now generally agreed it most have been a sopranino recorder. But Thorby plays one here on a straight soprano recorder, and another on an alto recorder. Regardless, the rapid and difficult virtuoso writing for the recorder in these works removes any doubt that the little wind instruments are serious music makers. The Telemann suite is that composer's most-played work and has a structure similar to Bach's Orchestral Suites. It honors the composer who may have written more works for the recorder than any other in history. Sammartini's concerto uses the soprano recorder and has a lighter style than the Vivaldi works but with the added spice of more chromaticism. This is a fine program for recorder-lovers and surround adds a realism that draws the listener in much more than does the two-channel option.