Bach, C P E: Flute Concerto in A minor, Wq.166/H.430

With this new record, the flautist and director Alexis Kossenko, finishes the complete concertos of CPE started in 2006 (Alpha093). When Frederic II accessed to the throne in 1740, he was only 28 years-old, however he was to rule Prussia with an iron fist for the next 30 years, turning it into one of Europe's most powerful nations. He was not only an enlightened absolutist but a passionate flautist, who gave the traverso, recently introduced into the Germanic world, an almost official status. He commissioned many composers and played the resulting pieces at almost daily concerts, which is how Bach came to write the six concertos for traverso obligato, works in which, as Alexis Kossenko observes, the composer "experiments, plays with fire, opens staggering gulfs of expression under the player's fingers and breath".