Four Sonatas comprises: BWV 1034-1035 for Flute and Basso Continuo and; BWV 1030 and 1032 for Flute and obbligato Harpsichord.Bach’s preferred instrument for chamber music after the violin was the traverse flute. Yet today it is impossible to determine exactly how much music he wrote for this instrument or the genesis of those compositions that survive. The elegance and fluency of the flute writing reflects Bach’s understanding and love of the instrument.This Urtext edition provides you with an accurate realisation of the composer’s original intentions with thoroughly detailed editorial markings and suggestions as editedby Hans-Peter Schmitz and more recently revised by Ulrich Leisinger. The solo flute and cello/viola (continuo) parts are also included on separate inserts.

In Sonata 7 in D major Balicourt opens with a suave intricately rhythmic Adagio. The following Presto with its delightful interplay between flute and bass including both octave doubling and stretto imitation is the most skittish movement to emerge from the composer’s pen. The finale is a ‘sandwich’ movement in which a Minuetto encloses a duple-metre Cantabile in D minor. Although the minuet could be said to exemplify one of those ‘easy’ movements referred to in Balicourt’s prospectus for subscribers its complex prescribed ornamentation requires sensitive handling. Sonata 8 in E minor is strategically placed as the final work inthe set being one of the longest as well as the most conservative; adopting the traditional four-movement configuration it continually harks back to the grand Handelian style. An eloquent Andante ushers in a Presto containing many slightly academic contrapuntal touches and much chromaticism. The subsequent Largo is only five bars long: its plain melodic line in minims and crotchets is the skeleton around which the flautist is expected to weave an elaborate embroidery. For the finale Balicourt introduces in effect a new version in triple metre of the second movement. The fact that all four movements are in E minor heightens the sense of unity which is expressed very concretely through their sharing of some thematic material.