Locatelli, a younger Italian contemporary of Vivaldi, settled in Amsterdam during the late 1720s. Like Vivaldi he was a renowned violin virtuoso—one of his contemporaries claimed that the expressiveness of his playing would make a canary fall from its perch in ecstasies of pleasure—though as a composer he lacked Vivaldi's innovative flair. As we might expect, the bulk of Locatelli's music consists of sonatas and concertos for his own instrument, the violin. His fine set of 12 sonatas for flute and basso continuo were published as his Op. 2 in Amsterdam, in 1732. It was his only collection specifically for flute though a further set of six sonatas for two violins or two flutes (Op. 5) were published in 1736.
Locatelli's flute sonatas, like those for violin, make considerable demands on the technique of the soloist. The musical idiom is predominantly that of the late baroque though there are plenty of 'galant' gestures, too. Some of these remind us of the north German empfindsamer Stil of C. P. E. Bach—notable examples occur in the second movement of the Sonata No. 6 in G minor and in the first two movements of the Sonata No. 10 in G major—but Locatelli has an individually expressive manner, too, though none of the sonatas in this recital reveal it quite so markedly as an F major Sonata from the same set which, sadly, is omitted. Baroque enthusiasts will be familiar with the flute playing of Wilbert Hazelzet whose eloquence makes out a strong case for a comparatively unexplored area in early eighteenth-century flute repertoire. Locatelli's preferred sonata layout is slow-fast-slow-fast consisting mainly of binary movements; but there are exceptions to the general rule such as the G major Sonata which is in three movements. The last of these is an attractive set of variations recalling similar ones by his contemporaries—the London-based Barsanti and the Swedish Johann Helmich Roman.
I enjoyed these lively and imaginative performances. Hazelzet has a wonderfully supple rhythmic sense, a warm, rounded tone and a very impressive technique. He gives affectionate accounts of the four sonatas included in his recital and is alertly supported by an excellent continuo team, Ton Koopman and Richte van der Meer. The recording is clear and effectively resonant. Perhaps the flute is balanced just a shade too closely but it is a small matter and one of personal preference. Recommended. '