Sorry for being gone all day, but I had to do some paying work and since then, I have been feeling rather ill. In fact, I still do. But I thought I would do a quick birthday post. On this day in 1678, Antonio Vivaldi was born. I have always loved his work. This started when I was rather young and playing the flute. His Concerto in D was one of the first real pieces I ever learned. You don’t hear it played very often because, I think, because it is so easy to play.

Here we have 9-year-old Emma Resmini (she is now 12) playing the first two movements of of the piece. It is a strange version of it: ornamented in what I think of as inappropriate ways, but what do I know? I’m an old man. The performance of it is wonderfully confident. And Resmini has a beautiful tone. It is a bit sloppy in the Cantabile, but I’m not complaining: I never played it nearly as well, much less at 9.

I have no doubt that Resmini will one day become a world class flutist (She may already have!), but she isn’t quite there yet in this performance. For a perfect performance of the Concerto in D, listen to Czech flutist Jiri Valek. Regardless, happy birthday to Vivaldi!

Afterword

When it comes to Baroque, I still prefer daddy Bach. But one thing Vivaldi understood that Bach never did was that the flute is not the same as a violin. In general, flutists cannot play while they breathe. See for example, that great torture piece, Partita for Flute Solo.