Emmanuel Pahud BEETHOVEN

 

BEETHOVEN

 

Anneleen Lenaerts NINO ROTA Works for Harp

 

WORKS FOR HARP

 

Orchestre National de France / Alexandre Desplat AIRLINES

AIRLINES

Emmanuel Pahud / Münchner Rundfunkorchester / Ivan Repušić DREAMTIME

DREAMTIME

András Adorján / Emmanuel Pahud DOPPLER DISCOVERIES

DOPPLER DISCOVERIES

Emmanuel Pahud / Paul Meyer / Daishin Kashimoto / Zvi Plesser / Éric Le Sage VIENNE 1900

VIENNE 1900

Les Vents Français MODERNISTE

‘Modern: Designating the most innovative forms of art in a given period, particularly those of the 20th century.’ This definition from the French Larousse dictionary explains the performers’ choice of title – Modernistes – for this new anthology of music for wind instruments: what draws the attention in these works – in different ways at different times and in different fields – are their innovative, progressive and adventurous qualities. Four of the composers featured on this album can legitimately be associated with what is very broadly known as Modernism, referring to the general proliferation of new ideas and new musical aesthetics at the turn of the 20th century and beyond. As for the two works by Philippe Hersant and Thierry Escaich, they call on us to reflect on what modernity means to us today. And, while it is easy to set Modernism in opposition to traditionalism, it is also interesting to distinguish between a composer’s personality and his or her approach to composing.

Anneleen Lenaerts NINO ROTA Works for Harp

On March 29, Anneleen Lenaerts released her sixth album, highlighting the works of Nino Rota and featuring Emmanuel Pahud on flute and Adrien Perruchon conducting the Brussels Philharmonic. In addition to Rota’s harp concerto, the Sarabanda e Toccata, and his flute and harp sonata, Lenaerts performs music from his films such as The Godfather and Taming of the Shrew. “Nino Rota is such a special composer, mainly known to the audience for his film music for movies like The Godfather, Dolce Vita, and Romeo and Juliet,” Lenaerts says. “But before he got famous doing this, he had written so many beautiful classical pieces that are not as well–known as they should be. People usually don’t know that he wrote many concerti, operas, ballets, even an oratorio and chamber music.” When asked what she enjoys most about his music, she references his classical works, saying, “It’s as if he always takes you on a trip full of images and true emotions. Even without a movie you can picture a story to it.”

Emmanuel Pahud / Kammerakademie Potsdam / Trevor Pinnock C.P.E. BACH Flute Concertos

One of the more puzzling remarks about the music of Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach came from Mozart, who said that anyone who listened closely would realize his debt to the German composer. That seemed unlikely, given that Mozart only rarely availed himself of the Sturm und Drang ("storm and stress") style of C.P.E.'s keyboard music. But listen to this release by flutist Emmanuel Pahud and you'll get an idea of what Mozart was talking about. It's not just that the flute concertos are basically galant in style, not Sturm und Drang. It's a certain nervous energy that makes the flute bloom rapidly out of squarish themes and keeps you guessing as to what's coming next. Pahud has previously recorded music by C.P.E. and others in the orbit of the so-called "Flute King," Frederick the Great of Prussia, and he gives this music an immediacy that avoids cuteness, aided by sharp work from the Kammerakademie Potsdam under veteran historical-instrument conductor Trevor Pinnock. Pahud himself uses a modern flute, which works in this case: the athletic, but not showy, quality of C.P.E. Bach's flute writing in the outer movements lends itself well to the modern instrument. Sample the first movement of the Concerto in G major for flute and orchestra, Wq 169, whose writing has some similarities to Mozart's Flute Concerto No. 1 in G major, K. 313. This is a crackling, energetic recording of music that until now hasn't really received its due. (James Manheim)

Renaud Capuçon / Bertrand Chamayou / Gérard Caussé / Emmanuel Pahud / Marie-Pierre Langlamet / Edgar Moreau DEBUSSY Sonates & Trio

The three sonatas that Debussy produced in his final years, together with the two books of piano Études composed immediately before them, hint at the new direction his music might have taken had he not died, aged 56, in 1918. The sonatas – for cello, flute, viola and harp (both composed in 1915), and for violin (1917) – were all that he lived to complete of a planned set of six such works. The fourth sonata was to have been for oboe, horn and harpsichord, and the fifth for clarinet, bassoon, trumpet and piano. The final work would have involved all the instruments used in the preceding sonatas, with the addition of a double bass.

Debussy insisted on calling himself “musicien français” on the published scores of these works. That was not only a patriotic gesture at a time when France’s existence was under threat from the horrifying war raging on its soil, but also signalled the source of the style of these enigmatic pieces – the elegance and clarity of French baroque composers such as Couperin and Rameau. It flagged up, too, that Debussy’s modernism was distinct from that of his Austro-German contemporaries, and that these works and their successors would put even more stylistic distance between him and Schoenberg, Berg and Webern.

But if Debussy’s fond backward glances were a kind of neoclassicism, the results are less blatant than Stravinsky’s later dive into the baroque. The outlines in Debussy’s sonatas may be crisper, the textures leaner than in his earlier works, but the world of these three sonatas is still typically elusive and suggestive, and like no other composer’s. And yet there’s nothing precious about these wonderfully responsive, all-French performances of the sonatas, in which pianist Bertrand Chamayou is very much the common denominator. He’s joined by Edgar Moreau in the Cello Sonata and Renaud Capuçon in the violin work, while the Sonata for Flute, Viola and Harp, one of Debussy’s greatest achievements, is played by Emmanuel Pahud, Gérard Caussé and Marie-Pierre Langlamet.

Some might prefer these sonatas in slightly less fulsome performances, but the sense of authority that runs through the whole disc is hard to resist. It also includes Syrinx, the jewel-like miniature for solo flute from 1913, which Pahud plays with willowy fluency, as well as a rarity from the beginning of Debussy’s career, the Piano Trio of 1880, composed while he was working for the Russian patron Nadezhda von Meck. It’s typical French chamber music of the mid 19th century, indebted to Massenet, Franck and early Fauré, with few hints of what would come later, but Capuçon, Moreau and Chamayou play it very winningly. (Andrew Clements / The Guardian)

Emmanuel Pahud SOLO

Interweaving the Baroque era and the 20th and 21st centuries, the newest addition to Emmanuel Pahud's Warner Classics catalogue is an imaginative 2-CD collection of music for unaccompanied flute. Among the composers are Telemann, Nielsen, Honegger, Varèse, Berio, Takemitsu, Pärt, Pintscher and Widmann. "Most of the pieces are about exploring new paths," says Pahud. "The power of this music often lies in the contrast between a simple line and the most refined complexities, between a note so quiet as to be barely perceptible and the loudest, most extreme notes playable on the instrument."

Lisa Batiashvili BACH

While violinist Lisa Batiashvili has recorded mostly Romantic and modernist music, she has chosen to perform works by J.S. Bach for her third album on Deutsche Grammophon, signaling an expansion of a repertoire that is already quite varied. Even the selections on this 2014 release show a preference for a mix of pieces, with only the Violin Concerto in E major, the solo Violin Sonata in A minor, and the Sinfonia from the cantata Ich steh mit einem Fuß im Grabe to showcase her talents as soloist. The rest of her program features her husband, oboist François Leleux, in the Double Concerto for violin and oboe in C minor, and the aria from the St. Matthew Passion, Erbarme dich, mein Gott, which he plays on oboe d'amore; and the Trio for flute, violin, and continuo in B minor by C.P.E. Bach, with flutist Emmanuel Pahud. Batiashvili generously shares the spotlight with these musicians, and their inclusion gives the whole CD an enjoyable feeling of conversation and flexibility of approach, which a straight run of violin concertos would have lacked. One drawback is the sound of the recording, which is echoic and a little indistinct, due to the resonant acoustics of the venues. Otherwise, this is a vibrant and appealing mainstream presentation of Bach that shows Batiashvili and her colleagues in a positive light. (Blair Sanderson)

For her first Bach recording, Lisa Batiashvili has chosen [a program] to demonstrate her refined musicianship and technical skills in a range of contexts, as well as her good taste. In the concertos' quick movements she offers a sweet, light tone and clearly but gently detailed articulation, using vibrato only when there seems good reason to . . . slow movements are more openly expressive, with Batiashvili at one moment playing out with controlled gorgeousness, the next retreating into rapt and intimate pianissimo. The sonata really shows her at her best, with effortless mastery lending an unusual sense of easeful calm to the music while still contributing towards a fiery Fuga and a delicate and loving Andante. This is fine playing indeed . . . a disc full of classy music-making. (Lindsay Kemp / Gramophone Awards Issue)

Emmanuel Pahud REVOLUTION

Flutist Emmanuel Pahud has a knack for bringing the 18th century alive, and with this quartet of flute concertos he attempts to follow up his successful earlier release The Flute King, which included flute concertos from the orbit of Prussia's King Frederick the Great. Even allowing for the fact that musical-social correspondences aren't always as easy to detect as when Beethoven dedicated his Symphony No. 3 to Napoleon and then retracted the dedication, this program is a bit more diffuse in its concept than the last one. Only two of the concertos, by Devienne and Gianella, actually date from the revolutionary period, and none of the four shows much impact of the big operatic style of Spontini that influenced Beethoven and other composers. Pahud in a note sets out the Flute Concerto in G major by (probably) Gluck as a representative of the ancien régime, but if anything with its sensuous slow movement it seems strikingly modern. None of this is to say that the individual pieces, all (even the disputed Gluck work) pretty much unknown, aren't a lot of fun. Jean-Pierre Rampal used to play several of these works in concert, and Pahud seems to have set his mind on being Rampal's successor. That's a worthy aim, and with the confident virtuosity and fine breath control in big lines he seems well on his way to achieving the goal. Check out especially the Flute Concerto No. 7 in E minor by François Devienne, known in his time as the French Mozart; the lively, alert accompaniment by the Kammerorchester Basel under Giovanni Antonini is a major enhancement to Pahud's work here. A worthwhile flute release reminiscent of the Rampal classics. (James Manheim)

Lisa Batiashvili BACH

For her first Bach recording, Lisa Batiashvili has chosen not to run through all the concertos or the solo violin works but to be selective, choosing the E major Concerto, the A minor Sonata and the Violin and Oboe Concerto (with husband François Leleux), and adding in a concerto movement from a cantata and an arrangement of ‘Erbarme dich’ in which Leleux’s oboe d’amore takes the contralto’s place. For good measure there is a trio sonata for flute and violin by CPE Bach in his 300th anniversary year. No one could call it a lazily made programme, though whether it is one that really hangs together is a little questionable.

What it does do is allow Batiashvili to demonstrate her refined musicianship and technical skills in a range of contexts, as well as her good taste. In the concertos’ quick movements she offers a sweet, light tone and clearly but gently detailed articulation, using vibrato only when there seems good reason to. You sense a self-effacing and meticulous politeness between the performers here, as if no one wants to stand on anyone else’s toes, but slow movements are more openly expressive, with Batiashvili at one moment playing out with controlled gorgeousness, the next retreating into rapt and intimate pianissimo. The sonata really shows her at her best, with effortless mastery lending an unusual sense of easeful calm to the music while still contributing towards a fiery Fuga and a delicate and loving Andante. This is fine playing indeed.

The CPE Bach is an odd choice, more at the JS end of his style and not among his most interesting works, though more varied articulation from Pahud might have made it more so. Never mind – this is still a disc full of classy music-making.