Description
At a historical moment when the transverse flute – a relatively recent ‘creation’ by the first half of the 18th century – came to the limelight as one of the most fashionable instruments, many musicians, some of the most influential, began to devote themselves to it compositionally as well as exploring and expanding its technical limits and thus producing a considerable number of solo and chamber pieces, in which the instrument had the opportunity to showcase its new expressive potential.
Written by one of the early founders of the so-called Mannheim School, although very little is known about his life nowadays, M. F. Cannabich’s Sonatas offer us moments of brilliance and ironic theatricality, perfectly in tune with the spirit of their time and rightfully belonging alongside the work of composers of the highest calibre such as Blavet, Buffardin, Ferrandini, Locatelli, Hasse or Quantz, where the transverse flute is no longer exclusively synonymous with lyricism, but an instrument capable of remarkable technical skill and powerful expressiveness.
The present recording production is to be considered as the first chapter of a complex, multi-stage project which aims at expanding the known repertoire of the transverse flute through the rediscovery and reproposition of minor composers and forgotten works.”
