The Artistry of Barthold Kuijken is an anthology of the great Dutch Baroque flutist's recordings, selected and annotated by the performer himself. As such, it's just about ideally done. Although most of the recordings are recent, they date back as far as 1978 in the case of the Fantasia VII in D major from the 12 Fantasias for transverse flute solo. This came from Kuijken's first recording for the Accent label, and it's in the shape of a French overture, thereby making it doubly appropriate for the opening. From there ...
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The Artistry of Barthold Kuijken is an anthology of the great Dutch Baroque flutist's recordings, selected and annotated by the performer himself. As such, it's just about ideally done. Although most of the recordings are recent, they date back as far as 1978 in the case of the Fantasia VII in D major from the 12 Fantasias for transverse flute solo. This came from Kuijken's first recording for the Accent label, and it's in the shape of a French overture, thereby making it doubly appropriate for the opening. From there Kuijken chronologically proceeds through the flute's history, not through his own, which would have been considerably less interesting. You get to hear flutes (or copies of them) from around 1710 to 1830, each deployed for appropriate music, and you can't help but marvel at how different Kuijken sounds in each pieces, and how untroubled he is by the Baroque/Classical stylistic divide that trips up so many musicians. His true métier is the crackling, seductive, highly ornamented music of...
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