In his review of Masahiro Arita's set on Denon NA gave a clear account of the various shades of doubt and certainty concerning these works, united only in their possession of a BWV number, and there is no need for me to repeat it here. Further, as one who believes the music to be worth its place on disc, no matter who did or didn't write it, I accordingly welcome this second serving. Something is, however, put in: was the C major Sonata, BWV1033, originally a flute solo, to which Carl Philip Emanuel (the copyist) added a bass line? It is presented in both forms, solo and with continuo. The flute lines seem, when compared with those of BWV1013, less self-sufficient, and See's solo version does not quite convince me that they were originally meant to be unsupported, particularly if the work post-dates the more effective A minor Partita; if it was in fact earlier it may have been an exercise on which Bach had second thoughts, and from which he learned. The mystery remains unsolved, but See/Moroney give everyone the chance to come to his/her own conclusion—if any. Bach's long lines are never more difficult than when they ride on the wind: See's long pauses for breath, some of them in curious places, interrupt the flow of the music in both solo works. Gulps for air are audible in both of these close-in recordings; though Arita's are a little more obtrusive, he keeps things moving more smoothly.
No such intrusions disturb the flow in the accompanied sonatas, of which both See and Arita give excellent accounts. NA has already sung the praises of Arita, to which I add mine of See; both have the style in their bloodstreams. In the matter of ornamentation their decisions are closely similar, and both are extremely cautious when it comes to adding any but the most clearly implied trills. Arita's is perhaps the more fluent technique and many of his tempos are faster than See's; though the final movements of BWV1013 and 1020 are taken at Grand Prix speeds he never sounds pressed. Where the roles are reversed, as in the E major sonata and in the first movement of the B minor, it seems to me that it is See who serves the music rather better. The baroque flute has little capacity for p/f contrasts and neither performer makes much of those in BWV1035/I, but Arita is the more effective in BWV1034/III. There are two disagreements over text in the E major Sonata: in bar 115 of the first movement Arita plays an E sharp (7'58''), but See a natural (7'28''), and in bar six of the second movement See reads the last G as a natural (0'45'') whereas Arita has G sharp (0'40''); to my ears it is See's choices that sound the more comfortable.
See is no less splendidly supported than Arita, and Moroney is occasionally rather more inventive in the with-continuo works—and, in general, free from Chiyoko Arita's slightly mannered overuse of lingerings to point her phrasing, e.g. in the solo keyboard opening of BWV1031; also, in the same movement there are several passages in which the keyboard part is shown as an unfigured bass line, which is how Moroney treats them, and the chords with which Arita fills out the 'middle ground' seem unnecessary. Whilst approving of Suzuki's cello contribution to Arita's set NA found it sometimes more backgrounded than he would have liked; I doubt that he would have any complaint regarding Springfels's gamba playing or the degree of its prominence.
The ideal solution is to have both sets but, if a choice must be made, I lean towards See et al—for their seemingly more spontaneous expressiveness, for the better overall balance of the with-continuo sonatas, and for the provocative bonus of the solo version of BWV1033.'