In reviewing the mammoth celebratory issue (of the bicentenary of C. P. E Bach's death) on the Capriccio label (10/88), NA commented that three discs of the flute and oboe works were rather too many. A single disc of flute music seems about right, even more when the programme is so varied as the present one, for which we may turn the tables by giving some credit to the sponsors. A prolific composer in the genre, Bach reworked several of his concertos for different solo instruments, as his father Johann Sebastian had done the D minor Flute Concerto is a case in point, in 'chicken-and-egg' relationship with the Harpsichord Concerto, Wq22 in the same key. Grauwels plays it with energy and, in the final movement, some dextrous tongueing, but the 12-strong string body, though crisp and economical with bowpressure, do not quite match his rhythmic drive. I was as amazed, as you may be, to learn from the booklet note, that ''The greater part of C. P. E. Bach's work consists of... (more than 50) concertos for harpsichord or clavichord''—the italics are mine.
Since Bach acted as daily accompanist to Frederick the Great, who also employed Quantz as his flute teacher, it is not surprising that he wrote so much music for the traverso and that its diversity matched that of the musical life of the court. Of the two with-continuo sonatas (both included in the Capriccio set) Wql33, not written to please Frederick, is the more substantial and expressive. The Duet, quite beautifully played, is more of a court-pleaser and, as the annotator points out, reminiscent of one of father's two-part inventions. It may too have been BWV1013 that prompted the son to follow his father's example in writing a solo-flute sonata, adopting similar 'selfsufficiency' devices in its scoring. Grauwels uses a modern flute and thereby changes the sonorities and shading of the music, but he plays with spruce technique, good tone and a modicum of expressivity, the same may be said of the others (the harpsichord cuts through cheerfully at all times) in this excellent recording. The music springs the occasional surprise (small hesitations, changes of direction, etc.) but there is little of the tension that C. P. E. Bach could create, and none of the jolts he loved to administer to the listener. As I said earlier, one disc seems just about right.'