Vivaldi made headlines around the world in October last year when musicologist Andrew Woolley stumbled upon the long-lost manuscript of a flute concerto now attributed to the Italian composer. Il Gran Mogol received its modern-day concert premiere in January, in a performance by British period-instrument group, La Serenissima. Avie Records today released the ensemble’s world premiere recording of this important musical discovery as a digital download EP.

Unearthed in the National Archives of Scotland, the score of Il Gran Mogol, RV 431a, is believed to have belonged to the flute-playing nobleman Lord Robert Kerr. The three-movement work lasts approximately ten minutes and forms part of a quartet of “national” concertos, composed in the late 1720s or early 1730s and described as the geographic equivalent to The Four Seasons. The surviving concerto from this set refers to India and the Mogul empire, but the other three sections – La Francia, La Spagna and L’Inghilterra (France, Spain and England) – remain lost.

Vivaldi specialists La Serenissima, with soloist Katy Bircher, have had the honour of performing Il Gran Mogol for the first time in over 250 years and presenting its debut recording. It has been launched...