Mario Carbotta, I Solisti Aquilani, Vittorio Parisi - Mercadante: Flute Concertos (2004)

The concertos for flute and orchestra by Giuseppe Saverio Mercadante (1795-1870), are undoubtedly a type of repertoire which interpreters like to perform and audiences enjoy to listen to, being among the few examples of authentically Italian 19th-century instrumental music written by a composer who was mainly renowned in the operatic field. The writing is virtuosic, aimed at impressing the listener with the performer’s skill, and keeps to belcanto stylistic models, though not without more slowly-paced and melodic passages. The form is mainly in three movements and follows the Italian fast-slow-fast scheme. This recording edition differs from the other existing ones in that it is based on the manuscript sources, some of them autograph, as well as on a 19th-century printed copy.