“Solo pour la flûte traversière” reads the title on the sole surviving manuscript copy of Johann Sebastian Bach’s A minor flute Partita, BWV 1013. The use of the French language might be no coincidence: in Germany, in the first decades of the 18th century, the transverse flute was considered a French speciality.

The instrument had been developed - one could even say reinvented - at the French court in the last quarter of the 17th century. It found entrance into the famous Versailles court orchestra under JB Lully and was regularly played in private chamber music performances for the King, Louis XIV, himself. Soon it also gained popularity in England, Germany, the Netherlands and Italy.

This CD contains a diverse selection of 18th-century pieces for solo flute played by Barthold Kuijken, who is considered to be one of the greatest flautists of our time. The performance of the Bach’s A minor Partita is a reference for all flautists, the arrangement of Vivaldi’s Spring from The Four Seasons by famous philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau is just plain astonishing.