CONCERTO IN D MINOR, RV431A (IL GRAN MOGOL), CONCERTO IN E MINOR, RV431

[...]the paucity of surviving autographs of concertos from the mid-1730s onwards, in stark contrast to the number of those extant from the 1720s and early 1730s, strongly hints that Vivaldi may have increasingly sold off concerto scores on a piecemeal basis, probably in growing need of funds late in his career. The fruits of the discovery quickly followed: (a) Woolley's extensive article that examines the source, its background and the issues concerning text and repertory that it provokes ('An Unknown Flute Concerto by Vivaldi in Scotland', Studi vivaldiani 10 (2010), 3-37); (b) Woolley's critical edition of the music, the subject of the present review; (c) the modern premiere of the work, performed by La Serenissima in Edinburgh on 26 January 2011; and (d) the first commercial recording, released by the same ensemble in 2011. [...]Woolley's close study of the readings in both sources establishes that rv431 in E minor is in fact the later of the two versions, adapted from music originally in D minor: that original was presumably a subsequently lost autograph score of rv431a with its title Il Gran Mogol intact, and presumably the exemplar from which other copies were derived, including the text that was transmitted to the Edinburgh manuscript. Since the autograph of rv431 is the key that unlocks all the doors, it was wise of the editor and laudable of the publisher to present both rv431a and rv431 together in the one volume.