Giulio Briccialdi (1818-1881)
Concerto pour flûte n° 1 en si bémol majeur
Concerto pour flûte n° 2 en mi mineur
Concerto pour flûte n° 3 en do majeur
Concerto pour flûte n° 4 en la bémol majeur

Ginevra Petrucci, flûte
I Virtuosi Italiani

Dans le monde musical italien du XIXème, dominé par l’opéra et le bel canto, les instrumentistes, surtout les vents, avaient un rôle important lors des représentations, notamment en jouant des intermèdes où l’improvisation virtuose était appréciée. Né à Terni en 1818, Giulio Briccialdi montra dès son enfance de belles dispositions musicales encouragées par son père qui lui enseigna la flûte. Orphelin à l’âge de 12 ans, il partit pour Rome très jeune et débuta une carrière de flûtiste d’orchestres d’opéra à Naples, Milan, Bologne, Venise et Rome. Sa célébrité grandissante le fit nommer professeur du frère du Roi de Naples, jusqu’en 1839 où il partit pour Milan pour entamer une carrière internationale. A partir de 1841 et pendant 10 ans, il rencontra les instrumentistes les plus en vue lors de séjours dans toutes les capitales européennes. Outre l’invention d’un nouveau système de flûte, auteur d’opéras lui-même, il a composé d’innombrables fantaisies et airs variés sur des airs à la mode, et les 4 concertos pour flûte présentés ici (Briccialdi est l’auteur d’un cinquième concerto pour 2 flûtes, en un seul mouvement). Ces œuvres courtes et brillantes sont des scènes d’opéra dont la flûte est la prima donna. La délicieuse interprétation de Ginevra Petrucci soutenue par les Virtuosi Italiani restitue parfaitement le feu et les couleurs chatoyantes de ces pièces virtuoses. (Jean-Michel Babin-Goasdoué)

First recordings of four Romantic concertos by a Paganini of the flute. This 2008 recording has been reissued to mark the 200th anniversary of the birth of Giulio Briccialdi (1818-1881). As a principal flautist in the major opera orchestras of Italy and across Europe, Briccialdi attracted renown not only for his performing virtuosity but also his ability to exploit and stimulate the rapid technical evolution of his instrument. A new flute was invented for him by Boehm and named after him. Further technical innovations were made in flute-manufacture at his instigation by Emilio Piana in Florence, where he was flute professor at the Istituto Musicale in Florence. Although he wrote an opera and a symphony, his legacy as a composer rests upon his works for his own instrument. These include many chamber works for flute and piano: fantasias and operatic fantasias capitalising on the popular success of dramatic works, especially by Verdi. There are several attractive wind quintets and the Carnevale di Venezia Op.78, a concertante work for flute and orchestra which has been recorded several times. These four concertos represent some of Briccialdi’s most valuable and original works: conceived as a pinnacle of virtuosic display for the soloist’s skill, and based entirely on original material, Briccialdi mostly kept those works for his personal use. In fact the great majority of Briccialdi’s work remains unpublished and the scores of these concertos were only published earlier this year by the Italian firm of Ricordi. They are all cast in the standard three-movement concerto format, by and large as brief as they are attractive, and unfailingly well written for the soloist: one highlight is the two-minute ‘Valse lento’ which forms the middle movement of the Fourth. The concertos received their first recordings at the hands of Ginevra Petrucci, a Romanborn flautist who has worked with composers in Europe and the US and had several works written for her. The Flutist Quarterly praised her for ‘beautiful phrasing, brilliant virtuosity and a legato worthy of a great singer.’