Magali Mosnier - Bach (2009) CD-Rip

Magali Mosnier, the principal flutist of the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France under Myung Whun Chung, is touted as a rising star of the flute. This 2009 release with the Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra under Michael Hofstetter was her second release on the Sony Classical label. She's undeniably charismatic, and the album gives hints of the ravishing tone she has brought to solo flute parts in the orchestral repertory. Moreover, the arrangements added to fill out an album after the exhaustion of Bach's few original works for the transverse flute (the majority are by Andreas N. Tarkmann and Wilhelm Mohr, a few by Mosnier herself) are artful and varied; they wouldn't have seemed out of place to Bach himself. Balancing these positives is uncharacteristically unpleasant engineering from Sony that puts the listener virtually inside the players' windpipes and makes the Stuttgart violins sound like a train taking a curve on the city's Stadtbahn, as well as a certain stolidity in the orchestral playing. The program is effectively organized, with concertos and suite excerpts giving way to chorales that showcase Mosnier's rich tone at the end. Listeners committed to hearing Bach on the flute may enjoy this release, but there are plenty of other places to go for favorite Bach excerpts.