Search - Handel, De Winne, Ghielmi :: Sonatas for Flute

The flute is conspicuously absent in the vast oeuvre of G.F. Handel. While oboes and recorders abound as solo instruments in Handel's operas and oratorios, there are almost no obligato flutes in them. Although it has been contended that the timbre of the flute was too intimate for an expansive character such as Handel's, the flute sonatas in Opus 1 are quintessentially "operatic" in nature, expressing the full range of affects between the delicate and the dramatic. On this recording, Belgian traverso champion Jan de Winne teams up with Italian virtuosi Lorenzo Ghielmi and Marco Testori to explore the "Italian" dimension in the flute sonatas, and to revitalize these astounding works with thrilling musicianship and superbly alert interaction.