Flute and Harpsichord Sonatas Vol. 1

"As durable as granite, as clear as crystal. These discs are an indispensable collection

It's no surprise that all musicians and music-lovers meet in their respect and affection for the music of J.S.Bach. Its human, but it's also superhuman. It's as durable and as rock-hard as granite, withstanding any style of performance from the most rigorously authentic to the freest of jazz treatments. In Bach the world of music, indeed the whole of life, seems to be in balance; intellect, spirituality, popular appeal, harmony, counterpoint, melody, rhythm.

He was, nonetheless, a fiercely practical composer, writing music for where it was needed and most often for performers he knew, or had trained. From his first posts as organist at Arnstadt, and then Mühlhausen he moved on in 1708 to be court organist and concertmaster to the cultured but despotic Duke of Weimar. Then in 1717 he accepted the position as music director at the court of Prince Leopold of Anhalt-Cöthen, whom Bach described as a patron "who both loved and understood music."

It was probably while he was here at Cöthen that Bach wrote most of his flute music. But as you read the notes which accompany these two discs you can't help noticing how often the words "possibly" and "probably" appear. There are even works which are of doubtful authenticity, one (in A major Vol.2) in which Terence Charlston has had to do some re-construction work to provide the sonata with a conclusion. There is one sonata (in G major Vol.2) which is a completely legitimate arrangement by Charlston of a sonata which Bach wrote for two flutes and continuo. But these questions, and the editorial work which the performers lay out so clearly in the booklets, are not something to worry about. In fact, for me, it adds to their value almost involving the listener in the research, making one long to dig through the piles of music still in Leipzig with the hope of finding the pages of the A Major sonata "which were torn off and never pasted back", or to find the letters or documents that would establish who they were written for, and in the case of the E flat and G minor sonatas whether they are genuine J.S.Bach.

The music collected on these two CDs lets us hear the versatility of Bach's invention. On the first disc there is a solo Partita which consists of four dance movements which Solomon plays with marvellous flexibility, using the unevenness of Bach's phrases to inject syncopations into the flow. There are four sonatas, including the B minor sonata, generally considered to be the finest of all, and the beautiful E minor sonata which Solomon confesses is his particular favourite.

On the second disc there are four sonatas which include the most popular G minor and E flat sonatas which ironically turn out to be the two that are "probably" not by Bach. The disc also includes three short, but delightful trios.

Solomon and Charlston are precise in phrasing and ensemble. They use delicate hesitations and flexible ritardandos to breathe life into the music. The baroque flute has a softer, sweeter and breathier sound than the modern flute. Together with the harpsichord, but with no string bass, the music has the clarity of crystal. Most often the music consists of three lines of contrapuntal music where every note matters - on these superbly recorded discs you can hear every one of them." (Rod Biss Sunday Star Times)