Simon Balicourt

Set 2: Sonata nos. 1 in B minor and 2 in C major

Flute and basso continuo

edited by Michael Talbot

Sonata 1 opens with a movement marked ‘Sostenuto’ and expresses to perfection the melancholy gracefulness associated with B minor. A vivacious Allegro follows, kaleidoscopic in its ever-changing rhythmic patterns, and the work concludes with a charming homage to the French style, in the form of a gavotte en rondeau. The opening movement of Sonata 2, containing some exquisite harmonic turns, displays what Quantz called the prächtig (‘magnificent’) style, with a pompously striding bass and heavily dotted rhythms for the flute. The subsequent Allegro moderato features jaunty syncopations interspersed with rapid flurries of demisemiquavers, and the piece ends with a sparkling ‘applause finale’, which is frothy but never trivial.

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Descriptive leaflet (pdf)

Set 2: Sonata nos. 1 in B minor and 2 in C minor

hh442.fsp · ISMN 979 0 708146 47 6 · ISBN 978-1-910359-49-5

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