Vivaldi's Children - Antonio Vivaldi's Six Concerti Op.10

To love Vivaldi’s music is to love nature, life and all things perpetual, aesthetic and ecstatic. So many years after Vivaldi lived out his life (1678-1741), we still enjoy his colourful, energetic music all over the world. This is proof that certain inner revelations can indeed be shared across generations and boundaries. Truth will not bow in the face of Time, nor will it cease to demand our attention as the human race progresses determinedly towards nowhere in particular.

Time, or rather Timelessness (or maybe both), this is what Vivaldi seems to capture so beautifully in his music. His vivid portrayals of the ever-changing and miraculous transformations of nature, in all its diversity and seasons, seem to always come back to the inevitable, fleeting, self-perpetuating and ultimately comforting nature of Time. Don’t ask me to justify or prove any of this (I am not a scholar) - these thoughts are based purely on the feelings and revelations I experienced while exploring this amazing set of concertos. Crafted into inspired and perfect structures of emotion, rhythm and sequence combine to become the perfect tools to portray and explain Life’s deep harmony and balance within itself.

The fact that such a serene observer of Life should have been a priest in the Ospedale della Pieta, a school and orphanage for young girls in Venice, comes as a reassuring reminder that Vivaldi did not hide away from life on a human scale. His work as a priest within the context of this orphanage was probably a very important factor in making his music so popular and relevant in his own time. This is why I have chosen to donate £1 out of the sale of each CD towards the care of abandoned or needy children around the world (see notes on SOS CHILDREN’S VILLAGES INTERNATIONAL). This is part of Towards Humanity, my international initiative using the inspirational qualities of music as a catalyst for promoting and raising funds for humanitarian work around the world.

I can think of no better tribute to Vivaldi’s enduring inspiration to us all, than to be continuing his work helping children towards the fulfilment of their destinies, as he did in his own lifetime. May music live on, converting Inspired Thought into Inspired Reality, for our fragile planet.

Wissam Boustany

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£14.99
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Catalogue Number
NI6167
Reviews
Review

“... There are many sound versions of these concertos, both in their published form and in their original versions, with modern and with period instruments, but what I particularly like about this set is that it bridges the different approaches by employing modern instruments, including the double bass, but in chamber proportions. Better still, there’s sheer joy in the faster sections of the music, while the nightmare quality of la Notte is fully brought out, too....” www.Musicweb.com (February 2012)

 

Lebanon-born flautist Wissam Boustany, acclaimed not only as a performer and teacher but also as a peace activist, is leading the new wave of today’s enlightened artists. The recordings Wandering Winds and Vivaldi’s Children, originally released in 1997 and 1998 respectively, have recently been reissued by Nimbus Alliance and will continue to raise funds for international humanitarian projects through music.

Vivaldi’s Children comprises Vivaldi’s Concertos Nos 1-6, repertoire that shows off Boustany’s crystalline technique – its decorative passages come to life under the flautist’s fancy fingerwork and phenomenal double tonguing. From the opening bars of Concerto No 1 ‘La Tempesta’, Boustany mesmerises and energises with his distinctive tone and extraordinary phrasing.

Boustany studied at both of Manchester’s music schools, Chetham’s School of Music and the Royal Northern College of Music, where he is currently professor of flute. It was here that I first saw him perform, and was knocked sideways by the strength of his sound and his unwavering musicality. That sound is fully evident in Wandering Winds, a recording that depicts a ‘journey riding on the winds of humanity and delight in the diversity of life on our planet’ and includes music from Peru, Ireland and the Middle East. Most moving, however, is Bach-Gounod’s Ave Maria, a work that continues to transcend boundaries and beliefs, and sums up Boustany’s vision perfectly. - Muso Mag

 

“…acclaimed not only as a performer and teacher but also as a peace activist, is leading the new wave of today’s enlightened artists…

repertoire that shows off Boustany’s crystalline technique – its decorative passages come to life under the flautist’s fancy fingerwork and phenomenal double tonguing…

…From the opening bars of Concerto No 1 ‘La Tempesta’, Boustany mesmerises and energises with his distinctive tone and extraordinary phrasing… - Soundbites

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