Les Seins de Glace Icy Breasts (1974)

Mozart's flute concertos are of course a Holy Grail for flautist François Lazarevitch, one that he has decided to tackle together with his ensemble Les Musiciens de Saint-Julien in connection with their work on sources of interpretation. He has recorded the two concertos for flute and orchestra on a one-keyed flute, a copy of an instrument made in Mozart’s time, and the concerto in C for flute and harp on an eight-keyed flute — a flute with a C foot — with Sandrine Chatron playing a period harp by François-Joseph Naderman. As Mozart left no original cadenzas for the flute concertos, François Lazarevitch has created his own, drawing inspiration from the cadenzas Mozart composed for his piano concertos. The Menuets and Gavottes in the final movements are particularly highlighted by the ensemble’s expertise in music for dancing: "after a first movement that is a little solemn and a second that is more lyrical, the final movements are often a moment for release in dance," concludes Lazarevitch.

If you asked a music-lover in Haydn or Mozart's time about the works of Bach, you would have been referring to CPE, and not his dad, the great JS, whose reputation was merely that of a great organist and sometime composer of "historical" music. Not only was CPE universally admired in his lifetime, he also wrote the definitive treatise on contemporary keyboard technique (it's still in use today), collected fine art, and left a superb body of music to future generations. The symphonies are really exciting pieces full of unpredictable turns of phrase and a genuinely passionate emotional expression. These excellent performances make the best possible case for them.