Mixed trios of wind and string instruments are more associated with the galant style than the baroque, and even then with the French (Couperin in particular) more than the Germans. J. S. Bach did, of course, compose a masterful trio for flute violin and continuo which he included in the Musical Offering, but he composed it long after his son C. P. E. Bach had produced the first versions of the five trio sonatas included here. They were composed about 1731, when C. P. E. was only 17 and still living with his father in Leipzig, then revised in 1747. So in spite of the many modern features (the three-movement format, the multiplicity of thematic motifs and the repeated-note accompaniments) a distinctly late-baroque compositional technique pervades the densely woven part-writing and twists of harmony.
Le Nouveau Quatuor offer refreshingly professional performances of these works, which have long been the provenance of amateur musicians. The two women, Utako Ikeda and Catherine Weiss, bring much of themselves to the music and the men, Mark Caudle and Paul Nicholson, provide sturdy continuo support. The tone Ikeda produces from her flute (a copy of a Grenser by Roderick Cameron) is exceptionally beautiful, if a shade cool—in the A major Andante, for example—while Weiss warms to the music, bringing life and purpose to every phrase particularly in the thematically rich first movements.
The sensitivity of their ensemble is seen especially in the C major Sonata, though they seem not to have been well served by the recording, which favours the treble registers over the bass, often blunting the edge of the tone of both the harpsichord and the cello; the outer movements of the much loved B minor Sonata suffered, as did the D minor Allegro on this CD. Given Mark Caudle's expertise on the bass viol as well as the cello, we have I hope—reason to expect future recordings of eighteenth-century French repertory (Leclair Quentin, Guillemain), along perhaps with the quartets of Telemann.'