Artist: Lucie Horsch, Amsterdam Vivaldi Players Title: Vivaldi: Recorder Concertos Year Of Release: 2016 Label: Decca Genre: Classical Quality: FLAC (tracks, booklet) [96kHz/24bit] Total Time: 53:23 min Total Size: 1.06 GB Tracklist: Concerto per flautino in G major, RV 443 01. I. Allegro 02. II. Largo 03. III. Allegro molto Concerto in C Minor for Recorder & Strings, RV 441 04. I. Allegro non molto 05. II. Largo 06. III. Allegro 07. Nisi Dominus (Psalm 126), RV 608 - 'Cum dederit' Concerto in G minor, RV 439 "La notte" 08. I. Largo 09. II. Fantasmi 10. III. Largo 11. IV. Allegro 12. Concerto in G major for two mandolins, RV 532 - Andante Concerto in F major, RV 433 "La tempesta di mare" 13. I. Allegro 14. II. Largo 15. III. Presto Il Giustino, RV 717 16. Vedrò con mio diletto Larghetto (Anastasio's aria) 17. Le Printemps de Vivaldi (transcription of vivaldi's spring RV 269 from the Four Seasons) If you've followed the early music scene in the 2000s and 2010s, you may have noticed the emergence of a school of really formidable recorder virtuosi from the Netherlands. These players have collectively blown away the whiny recorder sounds from the early days of the Baroque revival. You might check out any of them; Erik Bosgraaf makes a good one to start with. Lucie Horsch may not yet be at the top of this heap, but she was just 16 years old when this album appeared in 2016, and that made her not only a novelty but a possible role model, not to mention a source of sales, for the countless young people who study the recorder at school in England, the Netherlands, other European countries, and even occasionally the U.S. Sample the first movement of the Recorder Concerto in C minor, RV 441 to assure yourself of Horsch's smoothness in rapid arpeggios, and then move on to the slow movements, where she really is above average, with innate musicality and a lovely singing tone. A couple of recorder arrangements of vocal pieces work well in this regard, and a bonus is a real rarity as an encore: Jean-Jacques Rousseau's arrangement of the tune from the Spring concerto from Vivaldi's Four Seasons, apparently done as a kind of example of what the natural style in music could sound like. An entirely satisfying debut. -- James Manheim