Friedrich Kuhlau was
an exact contemporary of Weber, being
born in 1786, and a friend and (on one
famous occasion, blurred in memory)
drinking partner of Beethoven. His music
is of that age, with something of Beethoven
in serenade vein and a touch of Weber’s
ear for unusual instrumental timbres.
The ‘Grande Sonate Concertante’ Opus
85 dates from 1827 and is the last of
several sonatas composed for flute and
piano. The work is fluent and charming
and has all the classical virtues, but
for 1827 it is rather conservative.
Schubert’s ‘Variations
on Trockne Blumen’ D802, op. posth.
160, is a mystery work. It is his only
work for flute and piano but we know
very little about its composition. Written
in 1824, the manuscript is much corrected,
indicating that a lot of care has gone
into it. The melody is from the 18th
song in ‘Die Schöne Müllerin’
and the song associates lost love with
awareness of approaching death. The
work has caused some disagreement among
commentators as some people feel that
the message of the song sits ill with
a set of virtuoso variations. However,
if you leave aside these considerations,
then it is an easy-going and attractive
work; Schubert creates a fascinating
play between the virtuoso passages and
the more romantic, dramatic elements.
The Viennese violinist
Leopold Jansa created a large number
of arrangements for flute or violin
and piano. This group of Schubert songs
were copied out for the flautist, Theobald
Boehm and for many years it was thought
that these arrangements were made by
Boehm. Jansa’s changes to the songs
are all rather small scale; embellishments
to the melody line; some new stanzas;
new interludes. What he has managed
to do is transform a vocal part into
an attractive flute part. Something
is lost along the way, but these are
undeniably attractive works - though
I think that the resulting pieces are
probably more suitable for their original
purpose of communal music making than
for being listened to on disc. Too often
I missed the depth that a fine lieder
singer could bring to the songs. Without
the linking of text to music, the flute
was too often reduced to attractive
decoration.
Wegner and Kroeker
play elegantly and gracefully, and Wegner
has a pleasant warm tone. This disc
will be attractive to those who love
fine flute playing, but you cannot help
feeling that the flute has been rather
short changed when it comes to great
romantic music. There is something undeniably
cool and classical about the timbre
of the flute. It does not form a major
component in the major chamber works
from the Romantic period and the result
is, unfortunately, that discs such as
this one must be content with attractive,
fluent petits maitres such as Kuhlau.
Robert Hugill
duo cantabile