Briccialdi Flute Concertos CD

This 2008 recording has been reissued to mark the 200th anniversary of the birth of Giulio Briccialdi. As a principal flautist in the major opera orchestras of Italy and across Europe, Briccialdi attracted renown not only for his performing virtuosity but also his ability to exploit and stimulate the rapid technical evolution of his instrument. Although he wrote an opera and a symphony, his legacy as a composer rests upon his works for his own instrument. These include many chamber works for flute and piano: fantasias and operatic fantasias capitalizing on the popular success of dramatic works, especially by Verdi. There are several attractive wind quintets and the Carnevale di Venezia Op.78, a concertante work for flute and orchestra, which has been recorded several times. These four concertos represent some of Briccialdi's most valuable and original works: conceived as a pinnacle of virtuosic display for the soloist's skill, and based entirely on original material, Briccialdi mostly kept those works for his personal use. In fact the great majority of Briccialdi's work remains unpublished and the scores of these concertos were only published earlier this year by the Italian firm of Ricordi. They are all cast in the standard three-movement concerto format, by and large as brief as they are attractive, and unfailingly well written for the soloist: one highlight is the two-minute 'Valse lento' which forms the middle movement of the Fourth.