For those who specifically want a CD of trio sonatas by J. S. Bach & Sons and who prefer stylish playing on modern instruments to the extremes of unabashed Romanticizing or outand-out authenticity, this may be an attractive prospect. As MM observed, the Sonata by Carl Philipp Emanuel is particularly fine, and the unfinished Larghetto of Wilhelm Friedemann's is distinctly haunting.
Jean-Pierre Rampal's flute sound falls gratefully on the ear, more so than the harpsichord continuo or than Isaac Stern's violin. The latter has a slightly fierce, synthetic quality which negates the many sensitive touches in the playing. On CD at least balance is less sympathetic to the flute in the J. S. and C. P. E. works than in Johann Christoph Friedrich's Sonata, whose galante charms are helped along by an attractive fortepiano continuo.
