F.J.Haydn: Flute Quartet in G major (1768): Presto assai - Minuetto - Adagio -  Presto 

J.S.Bach, arr. W.A.Mozart: String trio in D minor, K404a: Prelude - Fugue

F.A.Hoffmeister: Flute Quartet in A major, Op.27 No.2: Allegro -  Adagio -  Presto

I.Pleyel: Flute Quartet in D major, Op.25 No.1: Allegro molto - Adagio - Rondo (Allegro)

Total timing: [65:30]

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This is the first disc recorded by the Galeazzi Ensemble and is a perfect example of a CD that presents the familiar and the unfamiliar.  The works recorded are all flute quartets - an incredibly popular medium of the time - and the group have chosen a selection which spans the last 30 years of the 18th century, beginning with Haydn, and working through those composers who would have been his friends and associates.

There is some mystery surrounding one of the works on the disc - the prelude supposedly by Mozart to team with the arrangement of the elder Bach's Fugue in D minor. Rather like some of the movements from the later Requiem, the work has all the characteristics of Mozart, but there seems to be a little doubt over its authenticity.  

All the composers featured on this discs were incredibly prolific in their composing, whilst juggling several other balls. J.C.Bach, the "London Bach", was music master to the Royal Family, his role there encompassing conducting, composing, concert management, and accompanying the family at the keyboard.  Hoffmeister ran a publishing house, producing works by the likes of Haydn, Beethoven and Mozart, and Pleyel's career is even more astounding since he was something of an entrepreneur, opening a music shop, a publishing house and a piano factory.  Despite their extra-curricular activities, these are fine works, and are well placed with works by their more well-known contemporaries and friends, Haydn and Mozart.