Showpiece variations, folksongs, little-known trios and an early masterpiece: an unrivalled survey of Beethoven’s flute writing in new recordings by experienced Italian chamber musicians.

Beethoven’s attitude to composition is exemplified by an 1806 letter to the Scottish publisher George Thomson: ‘I will endeavour to make these compositions as pleasant as possible, but to the extent that this can remain compatible with the perfection and originality of style which you yourself have judged to be favourable characteristics of my work and which I will never give up.’

Thomson wanted undemanding and commercially attractive folksong settings from a composer already across Europe. Beethoven wanted and needed the money, but he also knew his worth, and in any case compromise was a word only ever grudgingly admitted to his vocabulary. In writing his sets of folksong variations, the result always falls easily upon the ear while putting amateur musicians through their paces, technically speaking, and demanding far more of their expressive imagination than Thomson’s usual fare.

The other pieces here date from Beethoven’s earliest years as a composer in Bonn. The Trio for flute, bassoon and piano shows a strong Mozartian influence; the B flat Sonata for flute and piano is a striking example of the apprentice musician learning his craft and refining his voice, which emerges in the unexpected context of a modest Duo for two flutes. However, it is the seven-movement Serenade, op.25, scored for flute, violin and viola, where we find Beethoven most elegantly adapted to the role of ‘occasional’ composer. The idiom might be carefree and elegant, but the instruments cross swords, argue and find common ground with a nobility that is all Beethoven’s own.

These new recordings are led by the flautist Ginevra Petrucci, who is now based in New York as a performer, editor and author of several volumes on the flute, and a specialist in new music. ‘A a very talented and well-educated musician,’ according to the Fanfare magazine review of her Brilliant Classics album of flute concertos by Briccialdi (95767).