Recorder Concerto in C Minor

Upon his death at age 63, Vivaldi left behind some 500 instrumental concertos. Many of these were composed for his students at Ospedale della Pietà, the Venetian convent-orphanage whose young residents received some of the finest musical education in the city, and where performances drew large, aristocratic crowds. No greater proof of the virtuosity of Vivaldi’s pupils is needed than his Concerto for Recorder. The work follows a typical three movement, fast-slow-fast structure; returning themes are set against a sequence of variations and elaborations. A chattering theme launches the opening “Allegro”, syncopated rhythms adding to a prevailing sense of restlessness, later transformed by the soloist into eddying musical pirouettes. After an orchestral introduction, the slow movement strips the texture right back to just soloist and bassline—a bare canvas against which the recorder’s demanding long phrases are silhouetted. The final “Allegro”, with its leaps and fizzing semiquaver arpeggios, brings the concerto to a bravura close.