Flury is another Swiss late-romantic. He is more direct and carefree than Schoeck. Flury stayed within the bounds of tonality, writing often in a style close to Brahms but with lessons in lightness learnt from early Fauré such as the First Piano Quartet. He writes with the utmost naturalness of expression. Just listen to the sentimental fluency of the
andante of the Piano Quintet written for the artist Cuno Amiet (1867-1961) who painted four portraits of the composer in 1948. His teachers included Hans Huber (Sterling have just completed his cycle of eight symphonies), Josef Marx and Felix Weingartner. Flury's music is not at all challenging to the listener who loves his Fauré, Brahms, Stanford, Dvořák or Coleridge Taylor. He avoids the rapids of impressionism and must be regarded as an ultra-conservative. There is nothing amiss with that when, as here, the ideas are entrancing.
There are seven string quartets written between 1918 and 1964. The Fifth is dedicated to his patron, Gustav Eisenmann of the Biberist Paper Company (Biberist is the name of Flury's birthplace) who printed many of Flury's works. While the first movement has the same cosmopolitan savoir-faire as the same movement of the Piano Quintet the
andante is more expressionistic in the Schoeck vein and up to a point resembling Zemlinsky. That same quasi-Viennese charm inhabits the
Bewegtes Walzertempo and finale producing a gemütlich relaxation similar to that in the First Quartet of Karl Weigl.
The songs variously set Arent; Heine; Schell; Moser; Aufricht and Mörike. These are squarely within the central lieder tradition of Marx, Pfitzner and Eisler (yes the romantic Eisler of the Hollywood songs; not the satirical one). The booklet does not print the words of the songs.
A lovely unassuming collection enhanced by one of Amiet's Flury portraits on the booklet cover. Flury was a voice out of time. As much a creator of beauty as Ivor Gurney.
Rob Barnett
