empfindsam

Linde Brunmayr-Tutz transverse flute, Lars Ulrik Mortensen harpsichord
58:19
fra bernardo fb 1611782
Music by C. P. E. Bach, F. Benda, Kirnberger & Quantz

[dropcap]T[/dropcap]his is a beautiful CD of 18th-century music for flute and harpsichord by some of its finest exponents, many of them associated with the Prussian court of the celebrated royal flautist Frederick II. The enormous popularity of the transverse flute around the middle of the century along with the related triumph of ‘Empfindsamkeit’ as a general approach to music-making meant that some of the finest composers of the age devoted themselves to composing flute music, and one of them even wrote the definitive guide on how to play it. Johann Joachim Quantz is represented here by a fine sonata and an intriguing Adagio from his ‘Method’, which the performers present according to the recommendations contained in the method. The initial ‘flicks’ to important notes are reminiscent of traditional flute playing and remind us that a close look at historical playing tutors always bears interesting fruit. The music on this CD is of uniformly superb standard as is the playing of the two musicians. Flautist Professor Linde Brunmayr-Tutz is well known from her exemplary playing in a number of prominent period instrument ensembles, and her prominent suffix acknowledges her marriage to Rudolph Tutz who, alongside Rod Cameron, is one of today’s finest makers of Baroque flutes, and indeed made the flute his wife uses in this recital.

D. James Ross