Marc Hantai & Pierre Hantai – J.S. Bach: Sonates pour flute et clavecin (2018) [FLAC 24bit/88,2kHz]

The Hantaï brothers – Marc on traverso and Pierre on the harpsichord – give us here everything Bach “really” composed for flute and harpsichord, as some possible falsely attributed works are not featured here. Compared to the violin – which counts six sonatas and partitas for solo violin and six sonatas for violin and obbligato harpsichord – the transverse flute may look like the forgotten sibling in the Kantor’s works. But at the time the transverse flute was still a very recent instrument, that had just come (back) from France (where it was called the “German flute”) and Bach only started using it in his cantatas around 1721-1722, and therefore only had a very limited dedicated repertoire. These four sonatas are anything but a collection. Two are missing to reach the sacred number of six. Furthermore, they were composed over a period of twenty years. And while one may be tempted to confer them the balance and symmetry desired by the arranger – two sonatas with obbligato harpsichord (BWV1034 and 1035), two with basso continuo (1030 and 1032), two in minor, two in major, two in three movements, two in four, two in E, and two fifths ascending or descending from this central E, etc. -, all of it might be merely fortuitous; they are rather a “blended” family. However these works for flute have in common the fact of being clouded by great uncertainty – whether it is about their chronology, the date of composition, the intended recipient, their form, their main instrumentation, their creation… So all is left for the listener is to experience them, performed here on a flute made by Joannes Hyacinth Rottenburgh (first half of the 18th century) from Brussels, and a harpsichord after Mietke (Berlin) made in 1702.

Tracklist:
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)
01. Flute Sonata in E Major, BWV 1035: I. Adagio
02. Flute Sonata in E Major, BWV 1035: II. Allegro
03. Flute Sonata in E Major, BWV 1035:III. Siciliana
04. Flute Sonata in E Major, BWV 1035: IV. Allegro assai
05. Flute Sonata in B Minor, BWV 1030: I. Andante
06. Flute Sonata in B Minor, BWV 1030: II. Largo e dolce
07. Flute Sonata in B Minor, BWV 1030: III. Presto
08. Flute Sonata in E Minor, BWV 1034: I. Adagio ma non tanto
09. Flute Sonata in E Minor, BWV 1034: II. Allegro
10. Flute Sonata in E Minor, BWV 1034: III. Andante
11. Flute Sonata in E Minor, BWV 1034: IV. Allegro assai
12. Partita in A Minor, BWV 1013: I. Allemande
13. Partita in A Minor, BWV 1013: II. Corrente
14. Partita in A Minor, BWV 1013: III. Sarabande
15. Partita in A Minor, BWV 1013: IV. Bourée anglaise
16. Flute Sonata in A Major, BWV 1032: I. Allegro
17. Flute Sonata in A Major, BWV 1032: II. Largo e dolce
18. Flute Sonata in A Major, BWV 1032: III. Vivace