Flute Quartets

Mozart’s quartets for flute and string trio are among the most heartbreakingly lovely of his chamber works, and the Kuijkens — basically the first family of early music during the 1980s — produced what may be the most limpid, delicate, and powerful recording of them on period instruments. Flutist Barthold Kuijken remains one of the world-leading exponents of the baroque flute, and his rich, woody tone is the centerpiece here not only in terms of the composed music but also with regard to pure sound: the vinegary timbres of gut-strung baroque violin, viola, and cello create a sonic jewel box for Kuijken’s smoothly flowing melody lines, and the whole listening experience is simply marvelous.