Hard on the heels of CD issues of Bach's flute sonatas played by Stephen Preston (CRD) and Barthold Kuijken (Deutsche Harmonia Mundi/BMG) come two further albums also featuring the baroque flute. The territory is a minefield and not one of the four releases contains identical repertory. Kuijken and Bruggen follow the Neue Bach-Ausgabe edition in principle if not in detail. Thus, they include only the Sonatas in B minor (BWV1030), A major (BWV1032), E minor (BWV1034), E major (BWV1035) and the unaccompanied Partita in A minor (BWV1013). Kuijken has completed his programme with two of Bach's Trio Sonatas in G major (BWV1038 and BWV1039); Bruggen fills his with speculative alternative versions for instruments other than the flute of the unaccompanied Partita in A minor and of the opening Andante of the Sonata in B minor.
Stephen Preston and Masahiro Arita on the other hand are unwilling to omit good music merely on the grounds that it may not be of Bach's own invention. Both artists therefore include the two sonatas for which Bach's authorship has most consistently been questioned, those in E flat (BWV1031) and C major (BWV1033); additionally, Arita plays the Sonata in G minor (BWV1020), of which not only the authorship but also the instrumentation is in doubt. Questions of authenticity concerning these three sonatas remain—Bruggen even casts doubt over the authorship of BWV1034—but I adhere strongly to the school of thought which believes that Bach did indeed have a hand in BWV1031 and BWV1033 and that they are works which, in part at least, are worthy of standing alongside the remaining five.
The Sonata, BWV1020 is another matter but it is, nevertheless, an attractive work, far more likely to hold the attention of an audience than the piecemeal assembly of ideas comprising Bruggen's 'alternative versions'. In many other respects, too, I found Bruggen's performance irritating and unsatisfying. It is almost as if he had set out to challenge preconceptions about music and performance style, but without anything more plausible to replace them with. His intonation is often very bad, articulation self-conscious and over-mannered and phrasing jerky. It is, in short, just the way I do not like my Bach and I must question with hindsight—the recording was first issued on the Continent in 1975—whether Bruggen himself would take much pleasure in hearing it today. This was a dogmatic period in the early-music revival and playing such as this serves to remind us that we are thankfully past it.
I found the playing of Masahiro Arita altogether more enjoyable. He uses three different flutes, each dating from the middle decades of the eighteenth century and each effectively balanced with the harpsichord and cello. Arita has a feeling for Bach's often extended phrases and has the technique to realize them lyrically. The Andante opening of the Sonata in B minor is beautifully punctuated in a way that allows every phrase to breathe; indeed, the shaping of phrases is one of the strongest features of his recital. And there are other strengths, too, amongst which I would single out an unfailing sense of style evident in ornamentation, rhythm, tempo and effect. Just occasionally I wondered if there was not just a shade too much deliberation in the playing. Nevertheless, in general I was enchanted by Arita's performance and by those of his harpsichordist and cellist. Sometimes a little more cello presence would have been welcome, but all in all this is a set which does justice to the music.
I cannot imagine any music lover settling for an album of these sonatas which omits either the E flat or C major pieces, but if such there are then Barthold Kuijken's version is the one to go for. Yet neither Preston nor Arita offers less in the way of fine technique or interpretative skill and, as I say, they include the entire oeuvre for solo flute: Bach, probably Bach, possibly Bach and probably not Bach. I would not be without any of them. In matters of recorded sound Denon has the edge over CRD for Preston with an immediacy and focus which serve the instruments well. Both sets offer stylish and affectionate performances.'