Coverdesk 1.6

The flautist Michel Blavet was among the foremost European instrumentalists of his time. His second set of compositions, Sonates mêlées de pièces pour la flûte traversière avec la basse (1732), offers us sonatas in four alternating slow and fast movements, built on the Italian model. But in order to bring out the French style, Blavet inserts character pieces - portraits of sorts, most often in rondo form, eitther bearing the name of an actual or fictitious person or a title evoking a quality. As with Blavet in his time, no doubt, Claire Guimond renders all the grace and agility of these fine works

Hans Werner Henze has been a prolific composer over a career spanning six decades, writing extensively in all the standard genres such as symphony, concerto, opera, and song, in a remarkable variety of styles. As he has said, "I am bored by the idea of employing approaches which I have already tried." At times in his career, his controversial political views have attracted almost as much attention as his music.