Le Printemps de Vivaldi for Solo Flute

This is lovely and quite unusual. Vivaldi's famous piece has been given a new twist which is more thoughtful and reflective than the original version. This gives the performer much more freedom to explore the sonorities of the flute as well as experiment with ornamentation and style. It's also really beautiful!

Rousseau was an 18th Century philosopher and musician, who was active as a copyist, writer and academic. According to Ancillotti’s fascinating preface to this new edition, Rousseau was involved in a campaign to ‘support the superiority of Italian music’, preferring simplicity to the more complex French works of the time. Rousseau’s solo flute arrangement of Spring from Vivaldi’s Four Seasons was made in 1775, keeping the solo violin part intact and adding melodic elements from the orchestral tuttis, while removing any accompaniment material.

This is a curious arrangement which is fun to explore on either baroque or modern flute; aside from a couple of challenging technical moments, the material is relatively straightforward, and the solo flute is required to be quite imaginative in interpreta-tion to help give a sense that the music is complete without its accompaniment.

The new edition from Mario Ancillotti is clearly printed and beautifully produced. Minor errors have been corrected, and optional embellishments have been provided, either for the player to follow or as an example for their own ornamentations.