Music for Baroque recorder ensembles from Paris and Kroměříž with Gwyn Roberts, recorder and flute
Alongside Louis XIV’s famous 24 violins and oboe band, another ensemble played: the flute choir. This ensemble of alto recorders or voice flutes on top, bass recorders in place of violas on the inner voices, and contrabass recorder or bass violin on the bottom contributed a special color to the ballets and other stage works enjoyed at court. Meanwhile, in the Moravian town of Kroměříž, PrinceKarl II von Leichtenstein Kastelcorn (1623–1695) was amassing a library of music frequently featuring recorders, trumpets, cornetti, and other winds.We’ll play music written specifically for recorder ensemble by Lully, Charpentier, and Marcello, plus the newly rediscovered Anonymous Balletti à 4 Flauti from the Kroměříž collection.