Flute Music by Sons of Bach

In the nineteenth century, piano transcriptions were both standard items in the performing repertory and the way most people got to know new music, or in the case of Bach, newly rediscovered music. There are lots of transcriptions for piano of Bach's works for strings, wind instruments, or voices, and Italian-French-American pianist Alessio Bax has dug into the older repertory and forged a program full of fresh items and attractive contrasts.

I do think that this Decca set is arguably the best compilation reissue of such a bulk of Handel work which has been released in a long time, just in time to commemorate the two hundred fiftieth anniversary of the passing of il caro Sassone. There is a lot in this box, absence of libretti notwithstanding. The enclosed booklet is essential to navigate you through the track listings and timings and little else but a small general essay on GFH.

By John Van Note

As the artist who has recorded longest with the BIS label, Hans Fagius has an impressive repertoire that includes organ music of several eras. Fagius' early organ lessons were with Nils Eriksson and Bengt Berg. His 1974 soloist's diploma from the Stockholm's Royal College of Music was earned under Alf Linder. That same year, he made his public debut in Stockholm. He spent the following year in Paris, doing private study with Maurice Duruflé.

The duo 'À deux fleustes esgales' is here expanded. The two treble voices are joined by a basso continuo made up of harpsichord and cello, for a programme of famous trio sonatas by 'the Bachs'. From the father Johann Sebastian to the sons Carl Phillip and Wilhelm Friedemann, the stylistic evolution from Baroque to Classical can be traced here through the many facets of that crucial period in music, the eighteenth century: · Counterpoint and flowing polyphony raised to their zenith by Johann Sebastian in such a way that instrumentation becomes almost immaterial · Wilhelm Friedemann retains a certain contrapuntal denseness, placed at the service of an instrumental style sometimes reminiscent of Italian concertante writing · Carl Phillip Emanuel concentrates on the melodic line, with the continuo assuming more of a harmonic function, in a style that makes room for fantasy and sensibility or Empfindsamkeit. This CD takes us through this development - a guided tour that is sheer delight.