Fenwick

The repertoire in this recording features two innovative jewish composers - Erwin Schulhoff and Arnold Schoenberg - who persued widely differing musical styles - and who met very different fates. The three pieces performed here were completed by August 1924 and March 1927. They are not particularly Jewish in style, but are rather more reflective of the era in which they were written. Smith and Hodkinson here perform Schulhoff’s Flute Sonata and Concertino. The instrumentation of the Concertino is unique: flute doubling piccolo, viola and contrabass and the result is a fine rustic work, described by Schulhoff as "Moravian seller of shepherds’ flutes in the streets of Prague."These two rarely performed works are coupled with the rarely recorded transcription of Schoenberg’s Sonata for Wind Quintet, Op 26 by Felix Greissle. The Quintet was Schoenberg’s first strict twelve-tone composition. Fenwick Smith corresonded with Greissle when preparing the Sonata for performance and recording.

Auteur, acteur et metteur en scène, Philippe Fenwick conçoit un projet fou, démesuré : jouer dans le plus de villes possibles le long des voies ferrées - dont celles du mythique Transsibérien - qui relient Brest à Vladivostok, l'Atlantique au Pacifique. Reste à trouver une histoire en français et en russe, un spectacle accueillant comédiens, musiciens, Circassiens. Ce seront les souvenirs et les visions oniriques de Jacques Mercier, vedette d'un music-hall brestois, vivant reclus depuis la fermeture de celui-ci dans les années 80. …

Composer Charles Koechlin, 1867-1950, one of the underrated geniuses of modern music, has written some of the most challenging, thrilling and interesting music for the modern flute. The dynamic range of his music, from passionate lyricism to explosive, angular motifs has been a great gift to the modern flute, extending its range and expressivness.