Luogo e data di registrazione		Doopsgezinde Kerk, Amsterdam (Holland) - Gennaio/Novembre 1971
	Registrazione: live / studio		studio
	Producer		Wolf Erichson
	Prima Edizione LP		Telefunken "Das Alte Werk" | SAWT 9582-A | 1 LP - durata 52' 35" | (p) 1972 | ANA
	Edizione CD		Teldec Classics | LC 6019 | 4509-97475-2 | 12 CDs  | (c) 1995 | ADD - Teldec Classics "Frans Brüggen Edition" - Vol. 6 | 4509-97468-2 | 1 CD - durata 47' 52" | (c) 1995 | (Dieupart) - Teldec Classics "Frans Brüggen Edition" - Vol. 4 | 4509-97466-2 | 1 CD - durata 58' 32" | (c) 1995 | (van Eyck) - Teldec Classics "Frans Brüggen Edition" - Vol. 3 | 4509-97465-2 | 1 CD - durata 64' 20" | (c) 1995 | (Babell) - Teldec Classics "Frans Brüggen Edition" - Vol. 1 | 4509-97688-2 | 1 CD - durata 74' 44" | (c) 1995 | (Telemann)
	Cover		"Der Flötenspieler", Gemälde von Alexis Grimoux (1678-1733).
	Note		Non esiste, tale e quale, una ripubblicazione in Compact Disc di questa registrazione. I singoli brani sono però disseminati in diversi volumi che compongono la "Frans Brüggen Edition" che è composta da 12 Compact Disc.. Circa la Sonate a-moll di Alessandro Scarlatti non si è a conoscenza di un suo riversamento in Compact Disc.

The golden age of the baroque flute occurs more or less in the epoch of late baroque, between 1650 and 1750. During these decades a wealth of solo music was composed in Italy, Germany and England. At the end of the 17th century instrument makers quickly adapted themselves to the new soloist functional purpose; the flute was given a much wider range, and its tone became stronger, lighter and more versatile in the higher notes. The present recording vividly illustrates how, despite the narrower fixed rythms and conical drilling now introduced everywhere, flutes still turned out to be greatly varied in tone character. Around 1700 Francis [Charles] Dieupart left France to live in England; he settled down in London, where he is said to have died in 1740. In 1705 Dieupart published six suites for harpsichord, of which J. S. Bach copied two (in addition to the table of grace notes). It was even asssumed that Bach based his »English Suites« on them - they have one theme in common. In the same year Dieupart published a collection of harpsichord suites in a version for violin, flute or recorder with basso continuo, giving directions for each suite as to the type of recorder on which it should be played: Nos. 1-4 on the »Flûte de voix« (d recorder), Nos. 5 and 6 on the »Flûte du quatre« (b-flat recorder). But even without reference to Bach, Dieupart’s suites are worthy of consideration; they are excellent examples of French chamber music. The English harpsichord player, organist and violinist William Babell saw the light of day about 1690. He first learned the musician’s craft from his father, a respected bassoonist, and afterwards with Johann Christoph Pepusch. His »compositions« are for the greater part harpsichord arrangements of popular contemporary opera arias, but at the same time are also valuable sources of the embellishment and improvisation practice, for instance of Handelian operas. Babell’s own works, however, display, especially in his solo cantatas for violin (oboe) and harpsichord, and in particular the present »Concerto à 7«, an astoundingly high standard of composing subtlety in the creation of chamber music. Babell died in 1723 in Canonbury. It was during the early baroque era that recorder solos were composed by the otherwise little known Jan Jacob van Eyck, a blind recorder and carillion player, organist and flautist, who entertained visitors at the churchyard with his flute playing. He was born about 1590 in Utrecht and died there in 1657. In the middle of the 17th century he published the »Fluyten Lust-Hof«, a book containing a large number of contemporary popular melodies with variations for the soprano recorder. The art of improvising such »diminutions« was part of the style of the times; van Eyck most likely also played in this manner the »Engels Nachtegaeltje« at the churchyard. Among the »most diligent« and keen composer-musicians of the 17th century are undoubtedly Alessandro Scarlatti (1660-1725) and Georg Philipp Telemann (1681-1767). Among his immense operatic and cantata creations, Scarlatti’s Sonata in A-minor shines forth as one of the few pearls of chamber music. Telemann on the other hand devoted almost equal attention to all types of composition. His 12 fantasias for solo flute (1732/33) find their counterparts in the collections of unaccompanied fantasias for violin, viola da gamba and piano, published between 1732 and 1735. Telemann gives his fantasias a loosely jointed, formal framework, seemingly improvised with a light touch. This recording unites the Fantasias B-flat major and G-minor for the alto recorder, transposed a minor third higher in accordance with the custom of the 18th century. Telemann was conversant with all contemporary musical instruments; this explains his craftsmanship mastery which, together with his eternally fresh talent for invention, created the richest treasury of chamber music of the 18th century. Recorders in Collections Usually, a music-lover looking at any collection of old musical instruments is first impressed by the display of magnificent harpsichords, by the richly ornamented lutes and theorboes and by strangely shaped instruments like the serpent. Or, if he happens to be more technically orientated, he may be attracted by interesting specimens of the transverse flute that shows its development from a one-keyed instrument to the perfected mechanism of a Böhm flute. In contrast, it is seldom that the simple recorder ever draws much attention to itself. On account of the small ammount of space that the treble and alto recorders take up, they are usually designated - depending on the attitude of the museum curator - a mere modest corner of a show-case, or, in some instances, withdrawn from public view altogether and kept in the store-room. Furthermore, old recorders would seem to offer little that is »novel« to the ordinary visitor. A certain ammount of sensitive penetration of the subject is requiered before one can fully appreciate the numerous delightful variations in their construction, decoration and the material used. Closer study of the various collections of recorders in museums will reveal, in addition, that there are relatively few historical instruments still in existence. The largest collection of flutes and recorders in the world, the »Dayton C. Miller Flute Collection« in the Library of Congress in Washington, which has about 1600 specimens of the most varied types and periods, possesses only about 25 recorders from the 18th century and merely one alto and one bass recorder from the 17th century. A large set of Renaissance recorders (end of 16th, beginning of 17th centuries) such as the one to be found in the Collection of Old Musical Instruments in Vienna is therefore of extreme rarity; and, in this context, the recorder dating from about 1450 which was dug up in Holland and now to be found in the Gemeentemuseum at the Hague seems almost »prehistoric«. It is a generally known fact that recorders used to be constructed in a variety of sizes and pitches. For example, we know of the very rare great-bass recorder, 260 cms in length, and, as an extreme contrast, the sopranino, 25 cms in length. In the first half of the 18th century, when the recorder experienced its hey-day and was elevated to the ranks of solo instrument, it was the treble and alto recorder that enjoyed the most popularity. It is therefore understandable that far more of these two particular types of recorder have survived than of the tenor and bass types. After 1770 the recorder gradually disappeared from the musical scene. An incalculable number of valuable pieces must have been destroyed during the 19th century. Hardly any more recorders were made. With the revival of recorder making 50 years ago instruments were produced which were geared primarily to modern musical practice. Accordingly, new models were constructed which were far removed from their original counterparts. The historical instruments that had been preserved consequently remained museum pieces; a fact which was universally accepted. Museum curators and private collectors could (and perhaps preferred to) do no more than merely take care of their valuable specimens to the best of their ability. The situation changed fundamentally when, after World War II, performing practice began to follow along new lines. An ever-increasing number of musicians was going in search of the »authentic« sound of old instruments. From then on, collections of historical instruments were no longer examined from the purely aesthetic and organological point of view, but from the aspect of sound. Musicians and ensembles became engrossed in problems concerning the special ways of playing Baroque instruments, while instrument-makers strove to reproduce copies as accurately true to the originals as possible. A new world of sound opened up. The growing demand for authentic Baroque instruments can never be met by the existing number of originals. It will be increasingly necessary, therefore, to help out with good copies. Collectors and museums have to be aware of the fact that the historic instruments in their care are irreplaceable. They are duty bound to face the difficult task of finding a golden mean between the preservation and propagation of these instruments. For curators or collectors a recording such as this is an invaluable aid in carrying out the above-mentioned task. May it also provide for the music-lover an equally valuable opportunity to penetrate more deeply into the sound and the world of Baroque recorder music. Dr. Clemens von Gleich