Aural histories, the next gen

It might seem sheer folly for young artists to make new recordings of well-known concertos. They are competing with the great soloists of the past 100 years in a marketplace glutted with standard repertory. Vivaldi’s “Four Seasons,” to take but one example, has been recorded more than 200 times. Still, we count on each new crop of musicians to keep music alive.

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Vivaldi: The Four Seasons

Janine Jansen, violin and conductor.

(Decca)

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Vivaldi: Flute Concertos

Emmanuel Pahud, flute. Australian Chamber Orchestra. Richard Tognetti, conductor.

(EMI Classics)

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VIVALDI is a composer for the young, and here are two sensational soloists with the infectious energy, glamorous technique and musical sophistication and pizazz to prove it. Decca would like you to pick up the Jansen for her sex appeal, or so suggest the photos in the shamelessly provocative CD booklet. But close your eyes and Vivaldi’s four chestnuts, played with just a few terrific friends who share a taste for period style mixed with Romantic exuberance, are a complete musical joy for even the jaded. For his part, Pahud, seconded by the riotously electric Australians, produces delightfully dazzling fireworks in his generous selection of flute concertos.

-- Mark Swed