Luogo e data di registrazione		- Palais Schwarzenberg, Vienna (Austria) - novembre 1965 [1-4] - Casino Zögernitz, Vienna (Austria) - 27 & 28 febbraio 1968 [5-7, 12-14] - Vienna (Austria) - settembre 1969 [8-11] - Bennebroek (Olanda) - aprile e maggio 1969 [15-18] - Data e luogo di registrazione non riportati [19-22]
	Registrazione: live / studio		studio
	Producer / Engineer		Wolf Erichson [8-11, 15-18]
	Prima Edizione LP		- Telefunken "Das Alte Werk" - SAWT 9482-A - (1 LP) - durata 52' 16" - (p) 1966 - Analogico [1-4] - Telefunken "Das Alte Werk" - SAWT 9559-A - (1 LP) - durata 49' 51" - (p) 1968 - Analogico [5-7, 12-14] - Telefunken "Das Alte Werk" - SAWT 9559-A - (1 LP) - durata 44' 21" - (p) 1970 - Analogico [8-11] - Telefunken "Das Alte Werk" - SAWT 9545-A - (1 LP) - durata 41' 45" - (p) 1969 - Analogico [15-18] - Telefunken "Das Alte Werk" - SAWT 9413-B - (1 LP) - durata 54' 05" - (p) 1962 - Analogico [19-22]
	Edizione CD		Teldec - 4509-97474-2 - (1 CD) - durata 68' 46" - (c) 1995 - ADD
	Note		-

The Flemish composer Jean Baptiste Loeillet spent the greater part of his active life in France in the service of the Archbishop of Lyons. Although it may well be the case that the mannered style of music cultivated in early 18th-century Paris had yet to reach the French provinces, it is equally likely that Loeillet was familiar with this style and that he chose to ignore it. At all events, his 48 sonatas for treble recorder and continuo reveal a connoisseur and champion of the Italianate cantabile style. From Italy too, he took over the form of the sonata da chiesa, while at the same time breaking it down by occasionally introducing a dance movement, as in the G major Sonata. In the slow movements, the solo voices melodic line unfolds in beautifully arching paragraphs, while the fast movements are witty and playful. The C minor Sonata strikes a darker note, especially in the first and third movements. Giuseppe Sammartini’s F major Concerto is one of only a handful of original compositions for descant recorder and, of all the concertos written for this instrument (one thinks especially of pieces by Babell, Baston and Woodcock), certainly deserves pride of place. Sammartini was born in Milan, but moved to London around 1728 and quickly made a name for himself as an oboist, in which capacity he also played in Handel's orchestra. In 1776 the English writer on music Sir John Hawkins called him “the greatest oboist that the world had ever known". Formally speaking, the F major Concerto is closely related to its Vivaldian prototype, albeit with a less rigid distinction between tutti and solo. The middle movement is particularly impressive, with the widely arching melodic lines of the solo voice allowing the modern listener to gain an impression of Sammartini’s phenomenal breath control. The Trio Sonata in B minor HWV 386b by George Frideric Handel was published around 1752 and is based on an earlier version that may date back to 1718 or thereabouts. The work is written in the stile misto, a mixture of French elements such as short-bowed motifs and dotted rhythms in the first two movements and, in the third movement, an Italianate “aria” for the flute accompanied by double-stopping on the violin. “Monsieur Naudot” was the name by which the composer Jacques-Christophe Naudot announced himself to the world on the title-pages of all the works that he published in Paris between 1726 and 1752. For his op. 17 collection (from which the present concerto is taken) he suggested as solo instrument not only the recorder but also the vielle (or hurdy-gurdy, on which Naudot himself was proficient) and musette (a small bagpipe). Such were the technical limitations of these two instruments that the soloist rarely appears on his own but is generally accompanied by the first violin, a circumstance that has implications for the style of the work as a whole. Its title notwithstanding, this is no Italianate concerto with clearly contrasted solo and tutti but a French-style concert of chamber-like intimacy, an intimacy enhanced in the present recording by assigning the violin lines to individual players. By the first half of the 18th century the treble recorder was slowly being displaced by a new star in the musical firmament in the form of the transverse flute, which had begun its triumphant conquest of the musical scene around the beginning of the century with the result that few composers chose to combine the two instruments within a single work. By far the greatest of these pieces is Georg Philipp Telemann's Double Concerto for treble recorder flute, strings and continuo, a work in which the composer gives the two solo instruments ample opportunity to show themselves off to advantage, with the clear, almost austere sounds of the higher-pitched recorder contrasted with the flutes more velvety tone. Both instruments vie with one another in the high-spirited episodes of the final Presto, a rondo characterised by folklike elements of a kind possibly assimilated by Telemann during his time in Poland. In his autobiography of 1739, he writes: “It is hard to credit the wonderful ideas that occur to such recorder players and violinists. [...] An attentive person could pick up enough ideas from them in eight days to last him an entire lifetime.” Martin Nitz ····· A brief history of the recorder 12. The recorder in the 20th century Frans Brüggen (II) Having persuaded Martin Skowroneck to make two copies of early recorders in 1966, Frans Brüggen set about attempting to recapture the lost sound-world of the Baroque recorder. His overriding concern was to gain a better under standing of, and feeling for, 18th-century works by playing on instruments as close to the originals as possible. To this end, he encouraged recorder makers to produce accurate copies of early instruments, a process in which they were able to benefit from Brüggen's expertise. Skowroneck’s pioneering efforts were followed by Hans Coolsma’s copies of a treble recorder by Bressan and a Baroque flute by Stanesby. They were shortly joined by Friedrich von Huene and Fred Morgan, and soon there was a veritable army of instrument makers producing recorders and, later, flutes, oboes and other wind instruments on the basis of period models. Parallel with this development, Brüggen began collecting the finest period recorders and flutes that he could find. In the meantime, he had begun working for TELDEC, recording many releases on period instruments or on copies of them. In this way he made recordings on some 30 or so 18th-century instruments. Many of these recordings won international awards such as the Edison Prize, the Deutscher Schallplattenpreis, the Premio della Critica Discografica Italiana and the Grand Prix du Disque. Brüggen systematically committed to disc all the most important recorder repertory, including many works not previously heard in the 20th century. Among the pieces he recorded on the most appropriate period instruments were sonatas and concertos by Telemann, Babell, Scarlatti, Handel and Dieupart. Of particular importance in this context was his work with Gustav Leonhardt, Anner Bylsma and Nikolaus Hamoncourt. Between around 1965 and 1980 Brüggen was unquestionably the most successful recorder player on the international musical scene. For TELDEC he recorded more than 100 works for recorder and for both the Baroque and modern flute, in addition to appearing as a conductor, an activity he took up in the 1960s with Telemann's Tafelmusik. At this time, he was also giving some 100 international concerts annually as well as editing often unknown works for the recorder collaborating with recorder makers such as Hans Coolsma and, later, Fred Morgan and, last but not least, fulfilling his teaching commitments. As a teacher Frans Brüggen exerted a decisive influence on the performing practice of early and new music in general and of the recorder in particular. His appointments at colleges of music and universities from The Hague to Amsterdam and from Harvard to Berkeley helped to mould a whole generation of musicians and recorder players who, in turn, have produced a new generation of their own. In this way Brüggen's influence as a recorder player continues to be widely felt. Frans Brüggen's recorder playing is distinguished by its great originality, combined with his immense personal charisma and absolutely flawless technique Die Welt has described him as “utterly lacking in vanity and committed to music alone”, while Gramophone has called his playing "ultimate perfection". After giving up teaching in the early 1970s (“after a certain moment one has had enough. Through teaching one unconsciously lowers ones own standards. I wanted to be involved only with grand masters”), Brüggen gradually reduced the number of his recorder concerts. In 1981 Frans Brüggen founded the Orchestra of the 18th Century an international orchestra made up of period-instrument specialists. The players meet two or three times a year to perform and record a repertory extending from Rameau to Beethoven, Schubert and Mendelssohn. Today Frans Brüggen may also be heard conducting modern orchestras all over the world. Fortunately his past activities as a recorder player can still be relived through his many recordings for TELDEC. Peter Holtslag Translation: Stewart Spencer