Thomas Furi

By ''Early Viennese School'' is meant the group of composers contemporary, in the capital city of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, with Haydn and Mozart. Not all of it is particularly early; indeed Albrechtsberger, Vanhal and Salieri lived well into the nineteenth century. And it is arguable whether the Viennese of this period really represent a 'school' in the sense that the Mannheimers, or even the North Germans, clearly do; Vienna was a great musical clearing-house, wide open to influences (French and especially Italian opera were much performed there all through this period), and it is perhaps better to regard Viennese composition of the time as representing a wide spectrum of dialect within the late eighteenth-century lingua franca.

This recording gathers together the five concertos listed by Ryom as being for the recorder: the three for 'flautino' (generally accepted to be the sopranino) RV443-5, RV441 and the one (RV442) which Vivaldi reworked for the traverse flute (RV434 = Op. 10 No. 5), then displacing the recorder in popular favour. Michala Petri turned the tables by recording all six flute concertos of Op. 10 on the recorder (also Philips—LP only). Collectively these works plumb no great depths, either emotionally or intellectually, but, given the character of the solo instrument, one would not expect them to. The slow movements depend on simple charm, the outer ones on lightness and cheerful sparkle.

Heinz Holliger is widely considered the greatest oboe virtuoso of modern times. He is also a noted composer and conductor; as a composer he is one of the few who has maintained a strict adherence to serial procedures. Holliger has been the recipient of many prizes, including the Robert Schumann Prize of the City of Zwickau in Germany, and he is an honorary member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

This 50 CD Box Set includes Archiv Produktions finest analogue recordings made between 1959 and 1981, representing a Golden Age of a pioneering label that defined the way early music should be performed and recorded. Featured artists include Karl Richter, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Pierre Fournier, John Eliot Gardiner, Trevor Pinnock and other icons of the Archiv label.