On a disc promisingly labelled Vol. 1, a young Italian ensemble, Il Giardino Armonico, has begun its survey of Vivaldi's chamber concertos with the six works that were later published as the composer's Op. 10. Those earlier versions are, to my ears, more interesting than the commercially expedient corollary, the Op. 10 set for transverse flute and strings (c. 1728), of which only one concerto (RV435) seems to have been conceived for this particular ensemble. The remaining five are for a variety of woodwind and string combinations in which flute/recorder and violin are common factors. This new disc has a counterpart in an older recording with Frans Bruggen and an embryonic Orchestra of the Eighteenth Century (RCA) though the choice of instruments is not identical in the case of each concerto. Giovanni Antonini, the soloist in the new issue, bravely, but I think mistakenly, chooses the treble for all but one of the works, where he opts for a sopranino. Bruggen prefers a flute both where Vivaldi specified one (RV435) and where the writing seems to demand it; only two of these chamber concertos, in fact, positively indicate a recorder—these being RV442 and RV101.
Having sorted out some of the problems I must confess to having had my attention arrested by the exemplary precision of ensemble, an acute awareness, in all but one instance, of tuning, and an exuberant approach to interpretation. The playing is infectiously high-spirited and extremely well recorded. La notte (RV104) comes across particularly well, with ravishing sonorities of the kind achieved only when a player listens acutely not just to what he or she is doing but to what others around them are also doing at the same time. But the choice of a sopranino recorder for Il Gardellino (''The Goldfinch'', RV90) was not on the whole a wise one, even though its ornithological credentials might earn quicker recognition in an aviary than a transverse flute. In this instance the lyrical slow movement, a siciliano, is marred by the limitations of an instrument some of whose uppermost notes just fail to reach their mark. This apart, the performances are full of fun and caprice and, as I say, superbly polished. Recommended, above all for esprit and freedom from stuffiness.'