Luogo e data di registrazione		- Casino Zögernitz, Vienna (Austria) - marzo 1969 [1-15] - Casino Zögernitz, Vienna (Austria) - febbraio 1968 [16-18] - Bennebroek (Olanda) - gennaio 1966 [19-21]
	Registrazione: live / studio		studio
	Producer / Engineer		Wolf Erichson [1-18]
	Prima Edizione LP		- Telefunken "Das Alte Werk" - SAWT 9528-A - (1 LP) - durata 42' 47" - (p) 1968 - Analogico [1-15] - Telefunken "Das Alte Werk" - SAWT 9533-B - (1 LP) - durata 49' 51" - (p) 1969 - Analogico [16-18] - Telefunken "Das Alte Werk" - SAWT 9499-A - (1 LP) - durata 43' 30" - (p) 1966 - Analogico [19-21]
	Edizione CD		Teldec - 4509-97470-2 - (1 CD) - durata 63' 29" - (c) 1995 - ADD
	Note		-

Even as late as the early 18th century the term “concerto” was still ill-defined as a concept but covered a range of formal and stylistic possibilities. In his Das Neu-Eröffnete Orchestre of 1713, Johann Mattheson, for example, proposed the following definition: “Broadly speaking, concerte [of English ‘consorts’] are gatherings and collegia musica; in the strict sense of the term, however the word is used not infrequently of both vocal and instrumental chamber music [...]; in its strictest sense, it applies to violin pieces set in such a way that each part is shown to advantage at a certain time and competes, as it were, with the other voices.” The five concerti da camera for solo instruments and continuo contained in the present recording all date from around 1705 to 1720 and, interestingly, occupy the middle ground between the sonata da camera and the concerto for soloist and orchestra. Typical of the sonata da camera are the reduced resources, the surprising departures from traditional formal models and the often songlike cantilenas of the slow movements, while the solo concerto is the inspiration behind the blocklike themes of the fast movements and, above all, the prominence given to individual instruments, a prominence that invests these chamber concertos with the sort of virtuoso brilliance generally lacking in the sonata da camera. (Listen, for example, to the opening movement of RV 94, in which the solo violin emerges with ever greater brilliance.) But not only is the formal variety of these concertos remarkable, so too is their original combination of instruments: in the middle movement of Concerto RV 94 the cantilena of the treble recorder is set, jewel-like, within playfully wide-ranging arpeggios on the violin, with only the bassoon providing harmonic support, the string bass and harpsichord having both fallen silent. Although the solo concertos in C minor RV 441 and F major RV 442 both date from more or less the same period as the concerti da camera, they are sharply contrasted as works. The former exults in the emotional force of its C minor tonality, in its weighty ritomellos and in writing for the solo instrument which, violinistic in style, makes this one of the most technically demanding recorder concertos of the High Baroque, while the F major Concerto uses muted strings to create an intimate, oddly reserved effect that is further emphasised by the minor tonality of the middle movement, which is cast in the form of a siciliana. Martin Nitz ····· A brief history of the recorder 8. The recorder in the 18th century National styles: England During the 16th century it was largely foreign recorder makers who were active in England, with the first indigenous makers not making an appearance until the second half of the 17th century. In 1676 Thomas Garrett was granted the Freedom of the Turners’ Company, allowing him to work as a wood-turner. Among his apprentices are believed to have been both Bradbury and Stanesby. Thomas Stanesby (i) (c. 1668-1734) was born in Derbyshire and came to London during the 1680s, receiving the Freedom of the Turners’ Company in 1691. Some eleven of his instruments have survived, including ten recorders: a descant recorder (or “sixth flute”) in d", eight treble recorders (one of which is heard in Vol. 1), a tenor recorder (or “voice flute”) in d' and a tenor instrument in c'. Stanesby’s recorders reveal certain similarities to French instruments by the Hotteterres, being solidly made with a wide bore and correspondingly pronounced lower register These features were taken over by both Stanesby’s son and by Peter Bressan. Thomas Stanesby (ii) (1692-1754) is believed to have been active as a wind-instrument maker for more than ten years before becoming a Freeman of the Turners’ Company in 1728. He was apprenticed to his father in 1706 and on the latter’s death in 1754 inherited all his tools under the terms of his will. In 1739 and again in 1740 he was awarded the prestigious title of Master of the Turners’ Company. Unlike his father, he was commercially highly successful and on his death in 1754 was described by The Evening Post of 2 March as having been "particularly eminent for German Flutes". He regularly produced luxury instruments, advertising them on his trade card as “all sorts of Wind Musical Instruments. In Ivory or fine Wood; Plain, after a very neat manner, or curiously Adorn’d with Gold, Silver, Ivory & c.”. To judge by the number of his surviving instruments, Stanesby must have been highly productive, almost 70 of his wind instruments having survived the passage of time. Among these are some 15 recorders, including a number of descant instruments (a “sixth flute” in d", another in c” and a “fourth flute” in b’ flat), eight treble recorders and four tenor recorders in c’ and a low “fourth flute” in b’ flat. Of particular interest is the “sixth flute” in the Frans Brüggen Collection (heard in the Babell Concerto in Vol. 3), a wellpreserved instrument made of ivory, with carved tendrils and cupids. Peter Bressan was born Pierre Jaillard in Bourgen-Bresse in 1663. Between 1678 and 1680 he was apprenticed to the wood-turner Jean Boissier in Bourg and between 1688 and 1730 lived and worked in London under the name of Bressan. He is believed to have learned instrument making in Paris - probably in the Hotteterres’ workshop, since his instruments are strikingly similar to the Hotteterres’ French recorders. After years of affluence, private and financial problems forced him to return to France. He died in Tournai in May 1731. Unlike the younger Stanesby, Bressan appears to have concentrated on recorders: his surviving instruments include some 55 recorders, but only three flutes. Of particular importance are a surviving “fourth flute” heard in the recording of Dieupart's G major Suite (Vol. 6) and a number of treble instruments and “voice flutes” heard in Telemann's A minor Fantasy (Vol. 1) and Dieupart's A major Suite respectively. The majority of these instruments are made of precious materials such as ivory. Stanesby’s and Bressan’s instruments are regarded as the finest and most valuable of all 18th-century recorders and fully deserve to be described as the Amatis and Stradivariuses of the recorder world. Peter Holtslag Translation: Stewart Spencer