Concerto Summer Evenings II - Vivaldi, Bach and Mozart

Vivaldi: Concerto for Two Trumpets in C major, RV 537 
J. S. Bach: Concerto for Oboe d’amore in A major, 1055R
Vivaldi: Bassoon Concerto in G minor, RV 495
Mozart: Sinfonia Concertante for Violin and Viola in E-flat major, K.364/320d

Music director and violin: Zsófia Környei

Featuring: Gábor Devecsai, László Borsódy (trumpet); Zsófia Stefán (bassoon); DánielElla (oboe); László Móré (viola)

The Baroque pairing of Vivaldi and Bach is extended in this star-lit concert by Mozart from the second half of the 18th century. The music director and soloist of the programme is Concerto Budapest’s concertmaster, Zsófia Környei. The only Vivaldi duo concerto to have survived on sheet music, the hugely popular Concerto in C major scored for a pair of trumpets, is performed with solos from orchestra principal instrumentalist Gábor Devecsai and László Borsódy. The Bach work, Concerto in A major, with harpsichord, oboe d'amore, oboe, and sometimes even flute and violin solos, features the ensemble’s oboist, Dániel Ella, then a similarly prominent role goes to principal bassoonist Zsófia Stefán in the Concerto in G minor that has survived in a manuscript in Vivaldi’s hand. Having acquainted himself with the virtuoso ensembles of contemporary Paris and Mannheim that was particularly advanced as regards orchestral play, Mozart wrote the three-movement Sinfonia Concertante in E-flat major in 1779, which besides featuring Zsófia Környei also has László Móré, principal viola player, as soloist. One of the three sheets of the work by the 23-year-old composer that have survived in original manuscript form was sold for a record HUF 40 million by Sotheby’s of London a few years ago.