Vivaldi: Bassoon Concertos (Complete), Vol. 2

Featuring

Béla Drahos
Tamás Benkócs
Nicolaus Esterházy Sinfonia
Antonio Vivaldi

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Performer Biography

Tamás Benkócs, the bassoon soloist, was appointed principal bassoonist with the Budapest Festival Orchestra at the age of twenty in 1992.

Composer's Artistic Vision

Vivaldi claimed he could compose a new work faster than a copyist could write it out, demonstrating immense facility and variety within the three-movement concerto form.

Compositional Technique

Vivaldi wrote 39 concertos for the bassoon, an unusually high number for an instrument that was relatively uncommon as a solo instrument at the time.

Performer Biography

The Nicolaus Esterházy Sinfonia, the orchestra on this recording, was formed in 1992 as a recording orchestra for Naxos and consists of leading players from Budapest.

Composer Biography

Antonio Vivaldi, known as the "red priest" due to his hair color, was the son of a barber and violinist at St. Mark's Basilica in Venice.

Compositional Technique

One of Vivaldi's bassoon concertos, 'La notte' (The night), RV 501, is a programmatic work with movement titles like 'I fantasmi' (The ghosts) and 'Il sonno' (Sleep).

Composition History

Vivaldi had a long association with the Ospedale della Pietà, a charitable institution for orphaned girls, where he was contracted to compose two new concertos every month from 1723.