Concerto in G minor

Giuseppe Valentini (1681–1753) was one of the few Italian composers contemporary with Vivaldi who wrote concertos featuring wind instruments. Two oboe concertos by him have been known for a long time. In 2022 Michael Talbot discovered a hitherto unknown third concerto, in G minor. It is preserved anonymously in a Swedish collection, but Valentini’s authorship is evident from the fact that all its movements are skilful adaptations, clearly made by the composer himself, of individual movements from two of his string concertos published in Op. 7 (1710).

The concerto is typically Roman in scoring, lacking a viola part, and is equally suitable for performance in ‘chamber’ fashion, with one instrument to a part, or in ‘orchestral, fashion, with doubled string parts. It is highly characterful, with moments of great expressive power, and of only moderate difficulty for the soloist.