MusicWeb International One of the most grown-up review sites around 2024
60,000 reviews
... and still writing ...

Search MusicWeb Here Acte Prealable Polish CDs
 

Presto Music CD retailer
 
Founder: Len Mullenger                                    Editor in Chief:John Quinn             

Some items
to consider

new MWI
Current reviews

old MWI
pre-2023 reviews

paid for
advertisements

Acte Prealable Polish recordings

Forgotten Recordings
Forgotten Recordings
All Forgotten Records Reviews

TROUBADISC
Troubadisc Weinberg- TROCD01450

All Troubadisc reviews


FOGHORN Classics

Alexandra-Quartet
Brahms String Quartets

All Foghorn Reviews


All HDTT reviews


Songs to Harp from
the Old and New World


all Nimbus reviews



all tudor reviews


Follow us on Twitter


Editorial Board
MusicWeb International
Founding Editor
   
Rob Barnett
Editor in Chief
John Quinn
Contributing Editor
Ralph Moore
Webmaster
   David Barker
Postmaster
Jonathan Woolf
MusicWeb Founder
   Len Mullenger

REVIEW Plain text for smartphones & printers

Support us financially by purchasing this from

Silver Bow
Solo violin parts transcribed and adapted for flute by Katherine Bryan
Katherine Bryan (flute)
Royal Scottish National Orchestra/Jac Van Steen
rec. Henry Wood Hall, Glasgow, 2014
LINN CKD520 SACD [60:00]

Katherine Bryan is best known to Scottish audiences as principal flute of the Royal Scottish National Orchestra. She has star quality to her performances that I often notice during their regular Friday nights at Edinburgh’s Usher Hall. Her solo career is blossoming too, and it’s a nice treat to have this disc of famous showpieces for orchestra and solo violin, here transcribed (by Bryan herself) for solo flute.

The Lark Ascending is a bold choice with which to begin such a disc, but I actually thought it the most successful piece of them all. Quite naturally, there is a breathiness to the flute line that you don’t get with the violin, and for me that added to the sense of the natural world that the sound has, as if capturing even better the “aerial rings” of Meredith’s poem. A gentle summer breeze runs through this performance, the rising air following the lark upwards, seeming to weave in and out of the orchestral sound.

The other slower pieces on the disc all sound lovely, too. Massenet’s famous Meditation floats skywards, similarly to Vaughan Williams’ lark, and has a beautifully air-bound feel to it. Saint-Saëns’ Romance is also very winning, and Kreisler’s Liebesleid has a lovely tripping quality to its rhythm. Only the Gadfly Romance sounded a bit threadbare to me, though that may be more due to Chris Hazell’s orchestration than to Bryan’s arrangement. František Drdla’s Serenade feels like a stroll on a sunny day.

It’s the virtuoso showpieces that really make you sit up and take notice, though. Saint-Saëns’ Introduction and Rondo capriccioso opens with a lovely sense of mystery, helped by the flute, but enters the Allegro with strutting confidence that feels delightfully contained. Sarasate’s Zigeunerweisen is a stunning way to end the disc, beginning with a knowing nod to the swaggering Gypsy style as the nineteenth century heard it, and then suddenly taking wing for a fantastically exciting fast section. Most impressive of all, however, is Bryan’s own adaptation of Paganini’s famous 24th Caprice, which is quite stunning in its leaps, jumps, roulades and even its impressions of pizzicato.

The booklet notes give a brief insight into Bryan’s arranging process. The orchestra provide marvellous accompaniment, supporting one of their own with the aural equivalent of a warm hug. Essential for flute buffs, warmly recommended for the rest of us. The disc is an SACD, but it is also available from Linn as a Hi-Res download. Both sound fantastic.

Simon Thompson

Track listing

Ralph VAUGHAN WILLIAMS (1872-1958)
The Lark Ascending [15:01]
Camille SAINT-SAËNS (1835-1921)
Introduction and Rondo capriccioso, Op. 28 [10:20]
Romance in D flat major, Op. 37 [6:16]
Dmitri SHOSTAKOVICH (1906-1975)
Romance (from The Gadfly), orchestra adaptation by Chris Hazell [3:28]
František DRDLA (1868-1944)
Serenade [2:54]
Niccolò PAGANINI (1782-1840)
Caprice for solo violin, Op. 1 No. 24 in A minor [5:44]
Jules MASSENET (1842-1912)
Meditation (from Thaïs) [4:58]
Fritz KREISLER (1875-1962)
Liebesleid
[3:14]
Pablo SARASATE (1844-1908)
Zigeunerweisen
, Op. 20 [8:16]

 



Advertising on
Musicweb


Donate and keep us afloat

 

New Releases

Naxos Classical
All Naxos reviews

Chandos recordings
All Chandos reviews

Hyperion recordings
All Hyperion reviews

Foghorn recordings
All Foghorn reviews

Troubadisc recordings
All Troubadisc reviews



all Bridge reviews


all cpo reviews

Divine Art recordings
Click to see New Releases
Get 10% off using code musicweb10
All Divine Art reviews


All Eloquence reviews

Lyrita recordings
All Lyrita Reviews

 

Wyastone New Releases
Obtain 10% discount

Subscribe to our free weekly review listing