These beautiful quartets were written by Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach in the last year before his death, not on commission but purely as a kind of musical testament, the purest and most individual outpour of his creative genius. It is significant that in these works the transverse flute plays the prominent role, the instrument for which he so successfully composed all his life. The other instruments are violin, viola, cello and harpsichord, a rich continuo for this music of great depth and melancholy. Flautist Laura Pontecorvo is first flutist of the famous Concerto Italiano (Rinaldo Alessandrini), and plays regularly with such eminent ensembles like Accademia Bizantina, Europa Galante and L’Arte dell’Arco.