Olivier Brault, Grégoire Jeay - Boismortier: 6 Sonatas for Flute and Violin, Op. 51 (2001)

Joseph Bodin de Boismortier has suffered devaluation at the hands of music-historical gatekeepers because he had the temerity to answer critics who claimed he was too prolific by saying that he was making good money. The music of this French Baroque composer is tuneful, sweet, and a little flashy, even in the small-scale duos that make up a good part of his output. Boismortier's handling of the odd combination of flute and violin heard on the six sonatas on this recording is expert; the violin breaks off easily from chordal accompaniment to answer the flute in short imitative passages. These never develop into anything that could be called counterpoint; they simply relax into the endless flow of melody that is the primary characteristic of Boismortier's music. As Jacques-André Houle points out in his helpful notes, Boismortier was a master at introducing a French feel into the new Italian four-movement forms. (Perhaps the most interesting of these six sonatas is the last one, with its rather grave feeling and its triple-minuetto finale -- a French take on an Italian adaptation of a French dance.) Throughout, ornaments drip off each melodic line like little hanging flowers, and flutist Grégoire Jeay executes them briskly and playfully -- both keys to making Boismortier's music enjoyable. The sound is miked close enough to pick up every breath and every bit of instrumental noise, but also all the variety in Jeay's attacks and ways of shaping a phrase. He is definitely attuned to the spirit of light inventiveness that is Boismortier's essence, and he has produced a disc of music that is as well suited to background music at a party as Boismortier's original compositions were for their original Parisian buyers.