Neapolitan Flute Concertos

Carlo Ipata (flute), Auser Musici Hyperion CDA 67784****

What’s in a name? Will you be driven to buy this CD by the names of the featured composers (Giuseppe de Majo, Gennaro Rava, Tommaso Prota, Niccolò Jommelli and Antonio Palella)? Hardly, unless you’re an inveterate explorer of the unfamiliar. Or would you be more likely to sample it if it had the name of that great 18th-century brand, Vivaldi, attached? Well, if you’re prepared to abandon Vivaldi’s Venice for the musical ferment of 18th-century Naples, you’ll find some attractive, lightweight music here, with, as it were, an accent that’s rather different to Vivaldi’s. Carlo Ipata and the period instrument players of Auser Musici do the music proud, capturing both a sense of sprung orchestral rhythm and chamber-music-like interplay. See url.ie/4qdb