Hugo Reyne presents this disc very much in terms of his life with Vivaldi’s recorder concertos, from copying a tune from a TV advert when he was 10, not knowing that it was from La notte, to a first ear-opening hearing five years later of Frans Brüggen’s recording of RV441, and encounters with particular instruments and teachers. He has also dedicated each concerto to someone important in his recorder-playing life, which surely gives his selection integrity and focus, as well as the freedom to treat each of these six concertos (plus an extra slow movement) as an individual. Freedom, and boldness too: there’s a daring worthy of Red Priest in his decision to preface two of the three named descriptive works with onomatopoeic instrumental introductions (rather skilful ones as it happens) and spoken titles. The creaking timbers and crying gulls added to La tempesta di mare and the chirrups that usher in Il gardellino will I hope make you smile, and if on repeated listening they should irritate, well, they can be programmed out.

Reyne, better known as the director of La Simphonie du Marais, is a recorder player who has always combined technical adeptness with a naturally projected musical personality, and these are virtues that really help him bring ‘yet another’ Vivaldi concerto disc to life. It is interesting to hear how he gives himself expressive space by adopting measured tempi in the outer movements of RV441 (echoes here of the admired Brüggen), or how by choosing a low-lying and rich-toned flute for RV440 he creates a special sound world for it, especially in the eerie languor of the Larghetto. Although these performances are not always as slick and quick in ensemble as some others (or as carefully recorded), there is a relaxed conviviality about them and a personal generosity that makes them very likeable.