CPE Bach’s flute concertos were written for his royal patron, Frederick the Great, to whose daily concerts the composer was chained for years. An accomplished soloist, the king preferred the more emollient style of his other court composers, notably the flute virtuoso Quantz. Heard at its best, as in the opening A minor Concerto, it’s easy to understand why CPE Bach’s music was unappreciated: its surface is bewilderingly mercurial yet carefully thought out, its almost constant surprises engaging many different levels in rapid succession, scoring, register, and gestural contrasts. The monarch would anyway have had to be quite a virtuoso to pull off the strings of semiquavers of the opening movement: Alexis Kossenko forces admiration here, and in the slow movement his breath control and finesse in ornamentation are equally impressive. It’s in the latter feature that the true style of this music resides, and the entire ensemble does the composer full justice. The other two works, though undeniably charming and well written, are marginally less convincing. The D major Concerto seems lightweight in comparison, and the A major (which also exists in a later version for cello, of which several good recordings exist) betrays the tendency in CPE Bach’s fast movements for bold opening gestures to promise more than they deliver. But these shortcomings (as I perceive them) are amply redeemed in the slow movements, in which CPE Bach’s qualities shine through: whether you already know his music or are waiting to be introduced to it, these zestful performances are highly recommended.