Revolution: Flute Concertos
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DEVIENNE / GIANELLA / GLUCK / PLEYEL
Revolution: Flute Concertos
Emmanuel Pahud (flute) / Kammerorchester Basel, Giovanni Antonini
[ Warner Classics / CD ]
Release Date: Wednesday 25 March 2015
Widely recognised as the finest flautist performing on the world stage today, Emmanuel Pahud has joined forces with the Kammerorchester Basel, led by Giovanni Antonini, to record a programme of flute concertos by composers from the time of the French Revolution. The album, which brings together rarities by Christoph Willibald Gluck, Ignaz Pleyel, François Devienne and Luigi Gianella, reveals how the form and the instrument underwent their own musical revolution during this tumultuous period.
For his latest release, Pahud delves once again into the history and evolution of the flute in the second half of the 18th century, following the success The Flute King, his 2012 album of music written for and by the Prussian king and gifted flautist-composer Frederick the Great. 'Pahud is outstanding…A fascinating snap-shot of the mid-18th century Berlin court,' BBC Music Magazine enthused.
Pahud now continues on this path from Frederick the Great to the French Revolution, capturing the drama and excitement of the political upheaval that surrounded what was a golden age in music, particularly for the flute. "For me, this album is about taking you on a journey via three decades of flute concertos surrounding the events of the famous storming of the Bastille in 1789, in what was a rapid transition from Gluck's musical idiom, shaped by opera and the Baroque - his concerto here embodies Paris before the revolution - to the Romantic and revolutionary ideal that we hear in the music that follows," Pahud explains.
"In choosing to structure this album around these remarkable concertos, I had the great fortune of having Giovanni Antonini and the Kammerorchester Basel as partners - they defend this music with fighting spirit and a truly revolutionary fervour!"
"Flawless throughout Pahud provides sparkling playing high on joie de vivre, charm and natural poetic insight. Marvellously paced under the direction of Giovanni Antonini and I can't fault the contribution of the Kammerorchester Basel. They make a splendid sound using modern instruments and this feels both stylish and spontaneous. The sound team for Warner has excelled in clarity and in balance between soloist and orchestra. This is an excellently presented work on Warner Classics with the well illustrated booklet containing an interview with Emmanuel Pahud." (MusicWeb April 2015)
"For this disc, Pahud delves once again into the history and evolution of the flute in the second half of the 18th century
Happily...this is not a disc of old favorites, but rather a voyage into the music of some of the lesser-known composers of the period, like Francois Devieene, Louis Gianella, Christoph Gluck and Ignace Joseph Pleyel. This is a fine disc, well-played and well recorded. Pahud's flute sounds very realistic, and the detail of the other members of the ensemble is never lost." (AudAud.com June 2015)
"[Pahud's] sound is by turns silvery as a coloratura soprano, dusky as a dramatic contralto…there is suave and polished playing, too, by the Basel Chamber Orchestra under Giovanni Antonini who shapes the music's contours and highlights the pulsating rhythms, surging climaxes and driving energy that enhance its insurgent spirit." BBC Music
Tracks:
Devienne:
Flute Concerto No. 7 in E minor
Gianella:
Flute Concerto No. 1 in D minor
Gluck:
Flute Concerto in G major, Op. 4
Pleyel:
Flute Concerto in C major, Ben. 106
