Six Trios Op. 38 For Transverse Flute, Violin And Violoncello

Haydn's six trios for transverse flute, violin and cello are light, sociable chamber music, and that character comes through here: three-movement works in bright major keys, with slow movements marked Adagio cantabile and Adagio, minuet and scherzo movements, and brisk finales. The texture is transparent, the flute carrying most of the melodic interest over a lean violin and cello accompaniment.

The players are the Kuijken brothers, the Belgian siblings who helped establish historically informed performance in the 1970s alongside Gustav Leonhardt. Barthold, born in 1949, plays baroque flute, Sigiswald violin and Wieland cello. Recorded in December 1978 at St Stefanuskerk in Melsen, Belgium, and issued in 1979, this set sits early in their long recording careers.

Accent is a small Belgian label built around period-instrument performance, and these sessions were produced and recorded by Adelheid and Andreas Glatt, with sleeve design by Maria Uyttersprot; the original pressing comes in a gatefold sleeve. Little is documented critically about this particular release, though AllMusic's biography of Barthold Kuijken, written by Robert Cummings, credits the brothers' pioneering role in the early-music revival. This copy carries the signatures of all three players.