Flute

Flutist Sharon Bezaly has dazzled listeners and critics all over the globe, even being called “God’s gift to the flute.” With almost 40 releases to her name, her wide-ranging discography includes both standard repertoire and selections written specifically for her. This release is owed to two fellow world-class flutists, Jean-Pierre Rampal and Gunilla von Bahr. Rampal was the flutist who arranged Aram Khachaturian’s virtuosic violin concerto for the flute, at the suggestion of the composer. “Dances with the Winds,” Einojuhani Rautavaara’s 1974 composition, is dedicated to Gunilla von Bahr. Rautavaara’s “Dances with the Winds,” is an interesting addition, as the first and last movements are scored for bass flute, while the second movement is written for piccolo, and the third for alto flute. In a later revision, the composer replaced the bass flute with the alto. Bezaly includes both versions on this recording.

Stephen Schultz, called among the most flawless artists on the Baroque flute by the San Jose Mercury News, flute extraordinaire by the New Jersey Star-Ledger, and praised for performances of stunning warmth and agility by the Los Angeles Times, is joined by harpsichordist Jory Vinikour. Twice GRAMMY® nominated, and hailed as an authentic poet of the harpsichord by Denni Republik (Czech Republic), his performances have received raves in Gramophone and elsewhere. The four sonatas recorded here belong to a type of chamber music that was at the cutting edge of developments during the 1720s and 1730s: the duo for melody instrument and obbligato harpsichord.

With the flute sonatas by Martinus Raes, the Danish recorder player Clara Guldberg Ravn brings a jewel of musical literature back to the attention of the interested public. The young flautist's debut album offers an exciting and varied listening experience.

One of the most prominent solo flutists in the post-Rampal era, Patrick Gallois studied with Jean-Pierre Rampal and Maxence Larrieu at the Paris Conservatory, where at age 19 he won first prize. He immediately became principal flutist in the orchestra of Lille, the major city nearest his hometown, and in 1977 he moved to the principal position in the French National Orchestra, where he remained until 1984. After that, he pursued an increasingly successful career as a soloist, although he also founded his own chamber orchestra, the Académe de Paris, in 1990, and since then has served as a guest conductor with orchestras around Europe.

French composer François Devienne enjoyed great esteem with his successful operas in the Revolutionary years of 1792-97, but it was as a composer for wind instruments that he has won his place in musical history. The four Flute Concertos in volume 2 of the complete set show a combination of melodic elegance and graceful virtuosity that characterises much of his work. Especially notable in this respect is No. 6 in D major, a compositional tour de force, rich in thematic material and panache, and one of the finest wind concertos of its epoch.[

Musicological research has always raised doubts about the authorship of some of Bach’s Sonatas, particularly the BWV 1031, 1033, and 1020, while the others were certainly written by J. S. Bach. Whoever the author of the three dubious Sonatas may be, these are a group of songs that display wonderful artistic and musical qualities, and can easily be considered a point of reference for all flute players. Francesca Pagnini and Annibale Rebaudengo present these Sonatas on modern instruments, enriched by modern philological studies.

For the first volume of this series of seven albums, Gergely Ittzes has selected seven sonatas representative of the flute music of the 18th century. The works are played on modern flute but informed by authentic performance practice. Original obligato keyboard parts are played on piano while continuo realizations are performed on harpsichord. The players have aimed at an analytic, though spontaneous, rendition. Gergely Ittzes won several prizes and awards including the Aleksander Tansman International Competition of Musical Personalities. Alex Szilasi and Anthony Newman join Ittzes on the keyboards.

Il presente progetto discografico di Tommaso Bencioliniè nato con lobbiettivo di raccogliere per la prima volta in un'unica registrazione tutti i lavori pensati sin dal principio da Vivaldi come pagine solistiche dedicate al flauto (da qui il titolo di copertina Original Flute Concertos). Il programma si apre col concerto in Re maggiore RV 427, caratterizzato dallincipit a triplice rintocco tipico della sinfonia avanti lopera. In questa pubblicazione proponiamo in prima assoluta - una versione alternativa del primo movimento caratterizzata da soli più complessi e virtuosistici, scritti da Vivaldi in seguito a una prima stesura strumentalmente semplice e lineare, ma poi cassati. Forse questo avvenne per favorire una più facile diffusione dellopera anche tra gli esecutori dilettanti, o forse per un semplice ripensamento, ma ci è parso degno di interesse riportare alla luce una pagina che può rivelarsi preziosa veduta sul dietro le quinte del processo compositivo, oltre che ulteriore conferma della padronanza del linguaggio strumentale flautistico da parte di Vivaldi. Segue il concerto in Sol maggiore RV 436, il quale che conobbe unottima diffusione testimoniata dal ritrovamento di copie del manoscritto a Berlino e Stoccolma e che fu per anni erroneamente attribuito al tedesco J.A. Hasse.

Ferdinand Ries (1784-1838) is still best known for the early period in his career when he studied with Beethoven and then became his secretary; copying scores and handling correspondence for a composer whose relationship with the outside world only became more unpredictable with the onset of deafness. However, Ries (like his master, born in Bonn) fled Vienna in 1807 and thereafter embarked on a well-travelled career – in Paris, then Vienna again, venturing as far as St Petersburg and London, before settling in Frankfurt. Within a prolific output, he wrote 30 separate works scored for a solo flute, almost all of which date from his period in London (1813-24), where he won a reputation as a piano teacher to the well-to-do while producing his own music for London’s vibrant concert life.