Sunday 26 September 2010

Various Composers - Flute Fantaisie [Milan/Brown]

This is my very first Flute disc i'm mentioning in my Blog, it's got some great stuff in it, rather than a Flute Sonata disc, with roughly three Sonatas, this has ten shorter pieces, from roughly 3 minutes to 9 minutes, a great variety of items, with of course some virtuoso flute playing by Susan Milan, she is an English Flautist.

The two pieces that really impressed me the most, were tracks 7 & 10, the Faure is short and sweet, the Louis Ganne piece called Andante et Scherzo is darker and mysterious, at least in the Andante, it's lighter and frothy in the Scherzo, the opening piano intro sets the tone [0:00-0:08], a serious intro, with a touch of orientalism about it, the flute then sings out the main melody [0:08+], a ravishing tune couched in mystery, it suits the breathy tone of the flute perfectly, the piano echoes the flutes opening [0:38+], an excellent little touch from Ganne, towards the end of the Andante, there's the reprise of the opening couple of minutes [2:44+], and it's so lovely to hear this dark mysterious opening played anew, the Scherzo [starting 4:44+] is more happier and bubbly, and about halfway through the piano superbly reminisces on a happier version of the opening Andante tune [5:40+], and the flute obliges by copying the piano's lead [5:46+], with the piano rippling away in the background, it's a really lovely piece, especially the Andante, French flute music holds a treasure trove of lovely works if you search through its gems.

Here's Minja Marcetic playing the Andante et Scherzo by Ganne on YouTube.