These are the Vivaldi concertos which ardent recorder players muster when they are determined to leave no stone unturned but I am not suggesting there is an absence of affecting music here; rather that five recorder concertos, all be they for different size instruments, are rather too much of a good thing or, if you do not care overmuch either for Vivaldi or recorders, too much of a bad one. Well, here they are, anyway: three for flautino or sopranino recorder (RV443, 444 and 445) and two for treble recorder (RV441 and 442). For myself, I confess that none of these works would be on my desert island shortlist, though RV441 is, in fact, rather a fine piece. Whilst we may wonder at the virtuosity of Vivaldi's recorder players and even more, perhaps, at that of our present-day wizards there is a far from negligible quantity of hot air waiting to be expelled from some of the movements here. Michael Schneider is a skilful and sometimes imaginative player and he certainly can get himself around the demands made by virtuoso passagework—the finale of the Concerto in A minor, RV445 provides a considerable challenge which he meets admirably—but even he cannot entirely be exonerated from moments of somewhat routine playing.
His piece de resistance is undoubtedly the Concerto in C minor, RV441 and as I have already said there are some interesting features about this music, such as the chromaticisms of the first movement which give the piece a somewhat exotic character. The outer movements are technically exacting and Schneider rises to the occasion comfortably. Where I find both he and the ensemble disappointing is in slow movements. Too often they are treated merely as a statutory contrast with faster ones; they lack the poetic touch and are apt to be deliberate in their tread. Cologne Camerata—two violins, viola, cello, violone and harpsichord—play tidily and responsively but the violin sound is sometimes far from ingratiating. The attitude of the ensemble to anything in the way of dynamic contrast is cavalier, as the slow movement of the Concerto in C major, RV443 will confirm; perhaps I found this aspect of the approach its most damaging feature.
To sum up, a technically impressive performance but musically somewhat arid and void. Vivaldi is not entirely exempt from blame but then he, too, would surely have been mystified by the thought of anyone wanting all these concertos on one plate. Clear but, I suspect, contrived recorded sound.'