Jacques Martin

This recording includes works for the oboe by four French Baroque composers, Jacques-Martin Hotteterre, Michel Pignolet de Montéclair, Francois Courpin, and Marin Marais. Among them Montéclair is a cantata "Pan et Syrinx" (Pan et Syrinx). The story of the faun Pan chasing the nymph Silinks is popular with composers. On the one hand, this is a sad story about love that can never be obtained, and the drama and imagination in it are quite suitable for composers to play; A flute, this "pan flute" can be played with a modern flute (as in Debussy's Syrinx), or with an oboe like Montéclair. The tone of the oboe is not as cold as the flute, but rather warm, elegant and fresh. On the one hand, it is very suitable for depicting the quiet life of nature or the countryside. The sweet memories of a lost love couldn't be more fitting.

Two suites for recorder and basso continuo appear on this volume, a welcome representation of that instrument in the oeuvre of Hotteterre. Performance pitch is A=392, which reflects practice in the France of Hotteterre's day, but more importantly puts the flute down into that wonderfully soft and relaxed timbre which made it such a sensation in the first decades of the 18th century. There are bits and pieces of Hotteterre floating about in the recorded repertoire, but none surpass these performances, and once again.

Among the young British instrumentalists vying to pick up the mantles of the great soloists of a generation ago, flutist Katherine Bryan seems among the most promising, and she takes a major step forward with this, her second release. Her startlingly clear, bright articulation in the upper register is pleasing on its own, yet the real attraction here is that she approaches a repertory intelligently and brings fresh perspectives to it. The Flute Concerto (1993) of Christopher Rouse only seems to be the odd item in the set; Rouse's instrumental writing, with its intricate grasp of texture and register, is truly a descendant of the French (and French-Swiss) music on the rest of the album, and it was an inspired choice in terms of showcasing Bryan's technique as well. The three central movements have a memorial tone, with flute solos woven into Rouse's characteristically spacious chords, and Bryan has the stamina to stick with the long line here. Ibert's delightful Concerto for flute and orchestra (1934) receives an absolutely crackling performance from Bryan.

​In this album Clara Andrada, solo flutist of the Frankfurt Radio Symphony, performs three 20th century flute concertos together with the orchestra conducted by Jaime Martín. Malcolm Arnolds delightful Flute Concerto No. 1 makes a pleasant addition alongside Nielsens and Iberts flute concertos. Jaime Martín, himself an excellent flutist, is a perfect companion to these works. This is the orchestras second album for Ondine, and continues the fruitful collaboration between Jaime Martín and Ondine that has already produced three albums previously.

Though the saxophone has never found a regular place in the orchestra it has nevertheless captured the interest of a long line of composers; a square peg doesn't need to fit into any orchestral round hole when it is centre-stage. It is, too, one of the instruments whose technique has been advanced by players of jazz—a field in which John Harle remains active. There are now exponents of awesome ability, worthy of the attention of serious composers such as, in this recording, Bennett—who is also given to crossing the musical tracks.