Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741)
Concertos for bassoon, strings and continuo
Paolo Carlini (bassoon)
I Virtuosi Italiano/Alberto Martini (violin)
rec. 2002, Monselice, Italy
Tactus TB672262 [66]

In his book on Vivaldi in the Master Musician Series, Michael Talbot observes of Vivaldi’s concertos for bassoon and strings that “were a bassoon concerto even today less of a curiosity, they would be among the most highly prized of Vivaldi’s works” (Vivaldi, paperback edition, London, 1984, p.155).  This seems to me a reasonable judgement. Thirty-nine bassoon concertos by Vivaldi are extant, though two of them (RV 468 and RV 481) are incomplete. Presumably all of the concertos, which all make considerable demands on the soloist, were written for the same performer, whose identity is unfortunately now unknown. One concerto (RV 502) carries a dedication to a certain Gioseppino Biancardi (a Venetian bassoonist), though this was later crossed out in the manuscript. It is at least as likely (and possibly more likely) that Vivaldi wrote these concertos with a soloist from within the Ospedale della Pietà in mind.

The disc under review contains seven of the 37 extant bassoon concertos. Paolo Corlini is a top-class bassoonist, as evidenced on many other recordings and I Virtuosi Italiani are a consistently able ensemble. Corlini plays the solo part with great eloquence and fluency, especially in cases like the two movements marked molto allegro in RV 497. In slower movements his playing, as in the second movement (Andante molto) of RV 501, is gracefully lyrical and his tone beautiful. Nor would I wish to make any adverse comments on the work of I Virtuosi Italiani and their violinist leader Alberto Martini. But I’m afraid there is  a catch. As noted at the head of this review, the recording was made in 2002. Yet the disc was not issued until 2024. I wonder if this could because Tactus became aware of a problem with the balance of the recording? At times Corlini’s bassoon is placed so far forward that it makes it impossible to hear any detail of the orchestral playing.  This isn’t the case all the way through the disc, but occurs often enough to be annoying. I regard this as shame as, so far as I can hear, this is a performance of high quality.

The complete recording of Vivaldi’s bassoon concertos on Naxos, by Tomás Benkócs and the Nicolaus Esterházy Sinfonia conducted by Bela Drahos, spread across several CDs, can be recommended. So can the recordings by Klaus Thunemann and I Musici (Philips Duo 475 233-2).

Glyn Pursglove

Contents
Concerto in E-flat major RV 483  
Concerto in F major RV 485 
Concerto in A minor RV 497 
Concerto in B-flat major RV 501, La notte,
Concerto in A minor RV 498  
Concerto in E minor RV 484 
Concerto in B-flat major RV 502 

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