Quantz owes his current neglect in the concert hall and recording catalogue to a somewhat perverse fact of history: he was by far the most highly paid musician of his day (earning seven times as much as C P E Bach, for example) and yet his patronage from Frederick the Great—he was truly an 'exclusive artist'—meant that none of his works was published, all remaining in the monarch's private collection.

Today his prolific output (there are some 300 flute concertos alone) is gradually being resurrected, these delightful works being recognized for their true worth. Quantz's own virtuosic skills on the flute, coupled with several drastic innovations he made to flute design and construction, make for works which push the Baroque instrument to the very limits of feasibility.