Borne: Fantaisie Brillante sur des airs de Carmen

Following recorded forays into the modern, with newly composed concertos by Dalbavie and Pintscher, and into the Baroque, with Bach’s complete flute sonatas, Emmanuel Pahud performs a programme of virtuoso operatic fantasies with the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra and its exciting young Canadian music director Yannick Nézet-Séguin.

Emmanuel Pahud’s ‘Night at the Opera’ features fantasies on Rigoletto by Franz (1821–83) and Karl (1825–1900) Doppler, Der Freischütz by Claude-Paul Taffanel (1844–1908), Die Zauberflöte by Robert Fobbes (b.1939), La traviata (for two flutes) by Emanuele Krakamp (1813–83) and Carmen by François Borne (1840–1920) in an orchestral arrangement by Raymond Meylan. We are also treated to Lensky’s aria from Eugene Onegin, arranged by Guy Braunstein, and familiar flute solos from opera, including the entr’acte from Bizet’s Carmen and Gluck’s Dance of the Blessed Spirits from Orfeo ed Euridice. Juliette Hurel, solo flute of the Rotterdam Philharmonic, joins Pahud in the works for two flutes. The digital bonus track is the Menuet from Bizet’s L’Arlésienne.

Stephen Johns, Vice President A&R, EMI Classics, says, “This recording showcases Emmanuel Pahud’s extraordinary technique and musicianship, while presenting familiar and beautiful tunes from the greatest operas.”

Pahud recently described the background to his latest album: “In the 18th and 19th centuries, there was a tradition of salon music because people did not have CD or MP3 players as we have nowadays. They had no access to the internet or the radio so they would have to have transcriptions in order to hear this music in their homes. While Mozart was writing his Magic Flute, there were already people who, when they were rehearsing it in the theatre, were writing down the music and arranging it for duets and quartets so they could play it, like a jukebox, at home. Then in the 19th century the music became more virtuosic, because the instruments had developed and, while there was Paganini on the violin and Liszt on the piano, there were people like Doppler, Boehm, Krakamp and Taffanel developing the flute and repertoire for the flute in various countries. And they wrote transcriptions and very virtuosic pieces with lots of notes in them for the new, improved flute made of metal and with keys.”

“All the pieces on this album have been transcribed or were written in a version for flute and piano in the 19th century, apart from two. One of these is Lensky’s aria, arranged as a fantasy for violin and piano by our Berlin Philharmonic concert master Guy Braunstein. As a present, he made a flute version of that transcription for me. I had the idea of adding it to this collection of opera favourites in an orchestration that reinstates the original sound of Tchaikovsky in the orchestra. The other piece that is more recent is the variations on Die Zauberflöte. I had to include The Magic Flute in this collection. But I did not know of any satisfying version until I discovered this one on a recording by a Belgian colleague. It turns out it had been composed for him by a friend as a birthday surprise.”

Emmanuel Pahud, one of today’s most exciting and adventurous musicians, demonstrates his mastery of and sympathy for music composed over nearly three centuries. Principal Flute of the Berliner Philharmoniker since the age of 22, with the exception of a year-and-a-half-long sabbatical, Pahud has also appeared as soloist with many of the world’s other leading orchestras under such conductors as Abbado, Rattle, Zinman, Maazel, Gergiev, Gardiner, Harding, Järvi, Pinnock, Jordan and the late Mstislav Rostropovich. As a recitalist, Pahud collaborates with Eric Le Sage, Yefim Bronfman and Hélène Grimaud and he performs jazz with Jacky Terrasson. Pahud appears regularly at the major festivals in Europe, North America and the Far East.

Since signing an exclusive solo recording contract with EMI Classics in 1996, Emmanuel Pahud has recorded a broad range of repertoire to wide critical acclaim. Sales of his CDs number in excess of 400,000 worldwide. His EMI discography is set to be one of the most significant contributions to recorded flute music. His most recent releases include the Bach Complete Sonatas, newly composed concertos by Dalbavie, Jarrell and Pintscher and the Nielsen Flute Concerto (and Wind Quintet) with the Berliner Philharmoniker/Simon Rattle. In October 2009, Pahud was named Instrumentalist of the Year (Flute) at the Echo Klassik awards for his Bach Flute Sonatas CD.

“Emmanuel Pahud, flautist supreme.” The Times

This is the fifth album in our list from the fantastic Kenneth Smith and Paul Rhodes partnership. Here we have a programme of well-loved pieces for flute and piano (with some arrangements) to produce an album which can be listened to intently (as all good music should) or enjoyed as a backdrop to any social occasion. Timeless concert classics for all to enjoy, and incredible playing too.

Cathy Berberian, avant-garde cult diva of the 70s, leading a unique and highly entertaining programme of vocal and instrumental Belle Epoque gems from David Popper, Gioachino Rossini to Anton Rubinstein, Gabriel Fauré and Reynaldo Hahn – served with ironic delicacy and assisted by Bruno Canino (piano), Ludwig Boettcher (cello) and Karlheinz Zöller (flute). A true Electrola Collection find, never released on CD before!

TRAVELING SONATA: An adventurous program of European masterworks for flute and guitar, from scintillating young artists VIVIANA GUZMÁN and JÉRÉMY JOUVE. Their outstanding performances have been captured brilliantly by Grammy®-winning recording engineer Keith O. Johnson. A winner for all audiophiles and music lovers!

This album is a musical journey full of emotion, from the soothing and mellow music of Faure and Satie to the driving excitement of ”Bolero” and “Carmen,” to the thrilling modern music of Dyens, Duplessy and Ourkouzounov.

Few instruments are as adept as the clarinet at imitating the sound of the human voice in its whole range of vocal expression. This has been especially true since the Romantic period: time and again composers have had recourse to the clarinet whenever they wanted to evoke an emotional – but unsentimental – mood or to create the sort of atmosphere of dreamy otherworldliness that is associated with the hours of twilight: here one thinks especially of Carl Maria von Weber in Germany and of Berlioz in France. Nicola Jürgensen goes a step further – “into the night” – in her present programme, Dans la nuit, which takes its title from a song by Reynaldo Hahn. The clarinettist, who has appeared as a soloist with many leading European orchestras, while also making a name for herself as a chamber recitalist at international music festivals such as Risør and Lockenhaus, has adapted these 19th- and early 20th-century French works for her instrument and recorded them with the pianist Matthias Kirschnereit. Well-known and lesser-known songs by Berlioz, Hahn, Fauré and Poulenc feature here alongside more dramatic and virtuoso pieces. The result of this unexpected instrumental union is a living impression of the Paris salons of the belle époque, captured in stylish interpretations. Who would have thought that Saint-Saëns’s 'Introduction et Rondo capriccioso' could sound as brilliantly effective on the clarinet as it does in its original version for the violin? Nicola Jürgensen has garnered equally enthusiastic reviews for her work in the world of the modern music theatre – she has already been heard onstage as Eva in Stockhausen’s 'Michaels Reise um die Erde' at the Vienna Festival and in other leading centres of music. François Borne’s 'Fantaisie brillante on themes from Bizet’s Carmen' is a cleverly compiled potpourri that maintains the drama of its source and holds its own even when compared with the original version for flute, at least as interpreted here by Nicola Jürgensen. A further operatic melody originally scored for the violin is the famous “Méditation” from Massenet’s opera 'Thaïs', which rounds off an outstanding release on a note of mellifluous inwardness.

The Emanuel Ensemble - a flexible chamber group - here present an enticing recital programme for flute, ʻcello & piano, showcasing the undoubted talents of these three acclaimed young players.

The brilliant ʻcellist Louisa Tuck is the youngest Principal of any UK orchestra, and in addition to the Trio repertoire on this disc she also performs Schumannʼs Adagio & Allegro for ʻcello & piano, with the sought-after young pianist John Reid. Requiring considerable virtuosity in the concluding portion, and a projection of dreamy Romantic feeling in the opening, this work is of a perfect two-part structure.

Anna Stokes, a much in-demand flautist, takes the solo role too, in Borneʼs bravura Fantasie Brilliante, composed on themes from Bizetʼs Carmen - its high point the increasingly flashy variations on the celebrated Habenera theme.

This exuberant CD opens with Piazollaʼs La muerte del Angel, and its decisive, thrusting climax sets up the rest of the disc. Gaubertʼs souful Piece Romantique (also written for the CDʼs central combination of flute, ʻcello and piano) has a lyric charm and an eventide contentment; in stark contrast to the joyous Trio by Nikolai Kapustin.

Seemingly improvisatory, this three-movement piece works out its themes thoroughly and fantastically, with walking basses, hypnotic ostinatos, and ʻsolo spotsʼ for each instrument. In turns languidly nostalgic and capricious, this jazz-based Trio is one of the most popular works of Kapustinʼs output, and rounds off with an insouciant and irresistible display of animal vitality.

As Louise Farrencʼs work is being rediscovered, it looks as though she may have been the most important female composer of the first half of the 19th century. Her Trio in E minor, performed by the Emanuel Ensemble for this recital, is written in full classical sonata form, showing considerable contrapuntal artistry. The work concludes in effervescent high spirits, bringing proceedings to a close in high good humour.

Chicago Symphony Orchestra principal flutist, Mathieu Dufour, conceived this smartly programmed disc of late 19th/early 20th-century flute fantasies from his native France. He performs with the highly regarded Chicago-based pianist Kuang-Hao Huang.

Fantaisie combines CD rarities, such as Phillippe Gaubert’s Fantaisie and Albert Franz Doppler’s Fantaisie Pastorale Hongroise, with flute enthusiast-favorites including Gabriel Fauré’s Fantaisie, Op. 79, and Francois Borne’s Fantaisie Brillante on Themes from Bizet’s Carmen.

The CD combines virtuosic pieces written for the annual, competitive Concours examination at the Paris Conservatory — the fantasies by Fauré, Gaubert, and Georges Hüe — and works that elaborate on opera themes and folk tunes: the fantasies by Doppler and Borne plus Paul Taffanel’s Fantaisie on Themes From Weber’s Der Freischütz, one of the greatest opera fantasies for any instrument.

Mathieu Dufour, principal flute of the Chicago Symphony since 1999, is “one of the world’s most admired — and coveted — flutists” (Chicago Sun-Times). He was appointed CSO principal at age 25, making him one of the youngest players ever to hold such a position. Before that, he was principal flutist of the Paris National Opera and Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse.

The flute fantasies include Fernand de Borne’s Carmen Fantasy and Albert Fanz Doppler and Karl Doppler’s Fantasie et variations sur des motifs de l’opera Rigoletto. The trios are by Haydn, Hummel, Gyrowetz and Weber. This is a new package available at a special price.