Mario Caroli (Flute)
Contemporary Solo Flute Music
Elliott Carter, Scrivo in vento, Kaija Saariaho, Laconisme
de l'aile, Brian Ferneyhough, Carceri d'Invenzione IIb, Edgar
Varèse, Density 21.5, Juka Tiensuu, Cadenza, Henri
Pousseur, Flexions I, Toshio Hosokawa, Vertical song I,
Salvatore Sciarrino, Morte tamburo
Palais des Beaux-Arts, Brussels 17 March 2002 (ET)
Mario Caroli's morning recital was breathtaking! To
play such a heavy concert alone you must have a certain power of endurance.
He did it easily, it seemed like it was nothing to him! Scrivo in
Vento by Elliott Carter was from the start full of tension. Very
long, expressive notes were interrupted by high loud notes. It was remarkable
that these high notes sounded "nice" played by Mario Caroli.
In Laconisme de L’aile the audience was taken away into another
world. The flutist starts with poetry, then whispers the words until
the words lead into flute sounds. Very fascinating and inspired!
A very heavy piece is Carceri d’ Invenzione
IIb by Brian Ferneyhough. Mario Caroli played this difficult piece
with great flexibility and exceptional finger and breath-control. I
was very impressed by the Cadenza composed by Jukka Tiensuu.
The whole work is based on just one note, the central do (or ut) on
the flute. But none of these notes sounded the same! It’s like a struggle
to try to change the sound of these notes; Mario Caroli was master of
this piece!
The piece that made the greatest impression of all
was Morte Tambura composed by Salvatore Sciarrino. A total new
way of playing on the flute was brilliant performed by Mario Caroli,
he has recorded all Sciarrino's solo flute music. I was really impressed
by the energetic performance and the tension he could make and hold
through all those difficult pieces. For one hour the audience was completely
immersed in another world, a world of fantastic flute playing. Most
of the time the flute didn’t sound like a flute, and that‘s the way
music should be! It was a recital to remain in the memory a long time.
Elke Tierens
(Antwerp) - joint winner of Orpheus
Prize 2002
This report from the flautist of the flute-percussion
DuoXXI
endorses Seen&Heard's
appreciation over recent years of Mario Caroli's developing career as
a leading contemporary flautist. First noted in unpropitious circumstances
in a small, over-resonant room in Strasbourg's
Italian Institute, I was told that the 2020
seat Palais des Beaux-Arts at Brussels was an ideal venue for this larger
than life performer. Mario Caroli's landmark recording of Sciarrino's
l'opera per flauto is newly released on Stradivarius STR 33598-9.
Morte Tambura and Ferneyhough's Carceri d’ Invenzione IIb
can be heard on another of his CDs of contemporary flute solos, one
of MusicWeb's Records of the Year 2001 - SvaNa
SVN001 (PGW)
Peter Grahame Woolf
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