Johann Sebastian Bach:
Solo pour la flute traversiere

Jacques Hotteterre le Romain:
3 Songs with doubles from Airs et Brunettes ornez d'agremens pas Mr. Hotteterre le Romain

Sylvius Leopold Weiss:
Suite in G after his lute pieces

Antonio Vivaldi:
Le Printemps, RV 269

Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach:
Sonata in a, H. 562

Johann Christian Fischer:
Minuetto con variazioni

“Solo pour la flute traversiere” reads the title on the sole surviving manuscript copy of Johann Sebastian Bach’s A minor flute Partita BWV 1013. The use of the French language might be no coincidence: in Germany, in the first decades of the 18th century, the transverse flute was considered a French speciality. The instrument had been developed – one could even say reinvented – at the French court in the last quarter of the 17th century. It found entrance into the famous Versailles court orchestra under J.B. Lully and was regularly played in private chamber music performances for the King, Louis XIV, himself. Soon it also gained popularity in England, Germany, the Netherlands and Italy.

This CD contains a diverse selection of 18th-century pieces for solo flute played by Barthold Kuijken who is considered to be one of the greatest flutist of our time. The performance of the Bach’s A minor Partita is a reference for all flutists, the arrangement of Vivaldi's "Spring" from "The Four Seasons" by famous filosopher Jean Jacques Rousseau is just plain astonishing.

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Recorded at the Vereenigde Doopsgezinde Kerk, Harleem (The Netherlands) in October 2000. Instruments: Hotteterre, Paris c 1715, copy by Alain Weemaels, Brussels (a‘= 387 Hz), G.A. Rottenburgh, Brussels c 1750 (a‘= 415 Hz), J.J. Quantz, Berlin c 1750.