Quantz Flute Sonatas - Vol. 1

edited by Rachel Brown

These exhilarating works were composed for Frederick the Great, King of Prussia, and have remained in his private collection, largely unkown, since the eighteenth century. Now published for the first time, these choicest pieces may, at last, assume their rightful position in the core flute repertoire.

Contains six sonatas which are distinguished from all the other three hundred or so as Quantz breaks from his traditional slow-fast-fast pattern to open with a bravura Allegro followed by a central slow movement and closing with another lively one.

Whilst not strictly a set, they are consecutively numbered and they ascend through adjacent keys from F, G, A, Bb majors and C minor to D major, similar to the Telemann Fantasias and Bach Preludes and Fugues.

Arresting opening movements are complemented by tender adagios and elegant Rococo finales. There are several virtuosic sonatas in this collection ideal for higher grade students and diploma recitals.

ABRSM: Grade 8

Sonata in F major no. 272 QV 1: 93

Sonata in G major no. 273 QV 1: 109

Sonata in A major no. 274 QV 1: 145

Sonata in Bb major no. 275 QV 1: 161

Sonata in C minor no. 276 QV 1: 18

Sonata in D major no. 277 QV 1: 42

This Urtext edition presents:

• Two flute and figured bass scores - essential for ornamentation
• Performance notes by Rachel Brown
• Realisation of the figured bass by Terence Charlston
• Facsimile reproductions of original manuscripts

Matchless moments of true musical beauty" - Flute - The Journal of the British Flute Society