The first thing to
say about this good CD is that it fills
in a few gaps in the repertoire - not
only of flute music in particular but
of English music in general. I was absolutely
delighted when I first saw the track-listing
to see a couple of desiderata as well
as an old favourite in a new guise.
And let us not forget a number of works
that are, I imagine, new to most listeners.
But the opening number is one of Sir
Malcolm Arnold’s most attractive chamber
works.
The Sonatina for
Flute and Piano Op.19 was composed
in 1948 for Arnold’s friend Richard
Adeney. It is a strange work in many
ways: in some senses it is hardly even
a sonatina. There is too much angst
in some passages for it to pass muster
as a light hearted or ‘simple’ work.
The harsh chords in the opening movement
and the somewhat despairing slow movement
have all the hallmarks of a troubled
mind and have the depth of a full-blown
sonata. Yet the last movement is the
gem of the piece. Someone once said
that you could lick the ice cream off
it: an absolutely gorgeous tune beguiles
even the most stressed soul. Perhaps
the only fault of this work is the range
of emotion that it covers in such a
short time-scale. Yet it is probably
the masterpiece on this CD.
Two works that I seem
to have known about for many years are
Gordon Jacob’s ‘On a Summer Evening’
written for flute and piano and his
The Pied Piper scored for solo
flute and solo piccolo. Yet somehow
I have never managed to hear either
of these two pieces.
The Pied Piper
was composed in 1958 and well describes
two scenes from the perennial fairy
tale. The first is the ‘Spell’ which
seems to gives us the very tune that
the Piper of Hamelin actually played
to enchant the children away from their
ungrateful parents. But then the soloist
takes up the piccolo to play the eerie
March to the River Weser. This
is an attractive piece that could well
be a fine introduction to chamber music
for children.
The short ‘vignette’
‘On a Summer Evening’ is absolutely
everything one could wish for – except
that it would be longer. It is, as the
programme notes state, an idealized
view of that particular season. And
the irony of this is that it was composed
on a cold January day in 1975. It certainly
evoked a number of lovely romantic thoughts
in my head as I listened to this on
an equally cold February Sunday in 2006!
A number of years ago
I reviewed the Naxos edition of Hamilton
Harty’s great Irish Symphony.
Sir
Hamilton Harty:Irish Symphony Coupled
on this disc with the Symphony and
With the Wild Geese was the delicious
In Ireland. I noted there that
the composer had originally composed
this work for flute and piano in the
last year of the Great War. However
I have never heard this arrangement
before or since. The orchestral version
was made in 1935.
The score of the chamber
version is prefaced by a short note:
- "In a Dublin street at dusk two wandering
street musicians are playing." The whole
piece is to be regarded as the kind
of improvisation beloved of the Irish.
Yet the truth is more prosaic. It is
an extremely well conceived and structured
piece of music. The piece oscillates
between moods of gayness and sadness.
Of course the Irish-ness of this music
is never far away: jigs and laments
jostle each other for supremacy. I noted
earlier that this piece had little to
do with ‘busking’ – it is far too subtle
and intimate for that. The programme
notes say that it may have originally
been conceived for flute and harp –
but the complexity of the harp part
led Harty to publish it with a piano
part instead. It is nice to hear it
in what may have been the composer’s
original intention.
The remainder of the
CD is devoted to a number of works by
three composers whose names may not
be quite as familiar to listeners as
the three mentioned above. Each of them
has contributed one or more attractive
works for flute and either guitar, harp,
cello or piano.
Paul Lewis is better
known perhaps as a writer of television
music – with credits such as the Benny
Hill Show Waltz. On the other hand,
recent years have seen him concentrate
on works for the concert hall. For example,
the Norfolk Idyll is based on
earlier television scores but designed
for the recital room. However, attractive
as the music is, it leads one to believe
that an episode of some 1930s detective
series is about to commence. The Pavane
is a reworking of an organ prelude for
flute, piano and cello. The sounds are
quite ravishing, but the piece lacks
content. Once again this is TV music.
Perhaps the composer’s concert hall
credentials are saved by the interesting
and difficult Flute Diversions.
Three short movements articulate the
composer’s thoughts about three different
types of flute. They were written specifically
for Rachel Smith. The first is a flourish
for the ‘normal’ instrument, the second
is scored for alto flute and the last
is for piccolo. Paul Lewis’s last contribution
is an evocation to the god Pan. Two
of this deity’s moods are considered
– Pan Thoughtful and Pan Playful.
Both are scored for solo flute. One
thought - with these solo flute works
there is always the danger that we make
a comparison with Debussy’s Syrinx.
Perhaps this is no bad thing.
The CD title track
is from a three movement suite by Paul
Carr. ‘Summer was in August’
was a little bit of a disappointment
to me: and I do not know really why
–perhaps the promising title did not
quite fulfil its promise. Notwithstanding,
it is an attractively written work that
exploits the skill of the soloist. The
music is full of good tunes and well
written accompaniment. Perhaps it is
because I feel that the piece evokes
some wistful costume drama about some
crisis in a country house. It is not
quite ‘To the Manor Born,’ but getting
pretty close. Carr’s other piece on
this CD is the well written Three
Pieces Blue. These are three contrasting
movements that view the colour from
Light Powder to Soft Violet
by way of Dark almost purple.
Great mood music!
There does seem to
be a thing about the colour ‘blue’ on
this CD. Paul Gregory’s contribution
is a Sonatina for flute and guitar
subtitled ‘Blue.’ This time it
is perhaps nodding to the ‘blues’ as
opposed to the ‘hues’. Not my favourite
piece on this CD I have to say – it
did not manage to hold my interest.
This is a very good
CD. The playing is faultless. It is
useful to introduce works by a newer
generation of composers alongside those
of more established masters. My only
caveat would be that many of the ‘newer’
pieces lack distinctive character. Too
often they seem like music designed
specifically for TV. That may or may
not be a fair criticism but certainly
none of the ‘later' works have the depth
and passion and delight of Arnold’s
great Sonatina.
Please do not listen
to this CD end to end: select a few
tracks. Otherwise there is a grave danger
of the entire disc washing over you
as one very long and indistinct Suite!
John France
Rachel Smith, flute 
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