Quantz, to me, is one of those composers whose reputation seems unfairly doomed right out of the box for a couple of reasons. First, his prolificacy puts him in a category with folks like Telemann, Vivaldi, and Hindemith, though without the reputation of the latter two. The lack of reputation is probably closely aligned with the second thing: his almost single-minded attention to his own instrument, in this case, of course, the flute. (He also had a fairly well-known student on the instrument, that "Frederick the Great" fellow, and wrote one of the classic treatises on the instrument, the Versuch einer Anweisung die Flöte traversiere zu spielen). Except for a handful of other concerti, and a few works of vocal music, everything else he composed is for flute, either solo or with an ensemble. Such obsessive devotion is rarely found in any composer (Chopin and, to a lesser degree, Paganini -- who had two instruments for which he primarily composed -- spring to mind).

But, as stated, this reputation is a bit unfair to Quantz. While I'm not suggesting that everyone go out and listen to every concerto the guy wrote for flute (all 250+ of them; how torturous would that be!), any more than I would recommend seeking out every Vivaldi violin concerto (all 230+ of them; how torturous would that be!), he does have not a few masterpieces worth checking out. We are, therefore, fortunate to have the forward-thinking flautist, Rachel Brown, bring us these fine and quite interesting concerti as a sampling. And that she is joined by the always interesting Roy Goodman is a welcome bonus, too.