Romantic Flute Virtuoso

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radcliff
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Romantic Flute Virtuoso

Post by radcliff »

I would like to listen to some virtuoso of my favourite instrument...
can you advise me someone who can really use the 8 keys flute?
(so all the keys, all tecniques, etc?)
obviously I'm not talking about trad ITM

:-)
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Re: Romantic Flute Virtuoso

Post by Denny »

Picture a bright blue ball just spinning, spinning free
It's dizzying, the possibilities. Ashes, Ashes all fall down.
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Re: Romantic Flute Virtuoso

Post by jemtheflute »

Also check out Breton player Malo Carvou on YouTube - kinky swing waltzes - very jazzy. And there's always Stephen Preston's old Amon Ra albums on flutes through the ages which I've blathered about often enough before - they'd fit your bill. I'll try to post details tomorrow.
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Re: Romantic Flute Virtuoso

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Denny
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Re: Romantic Flute Virtuoso

Post by Denny »

so do I...I mentioned his teacher :D
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Re: Romantic Flute Virtuoso

Post by Rob Sharer »

Barthold Kuijken.

He's a bad mammajamma.



Rob
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radcliff
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Re: Romantic Flute Virtuoso

Post by radcliff »

mmm,
I'm looking for something different, more focus on classical / Romantic music,
Something like Barthold Kuijken but on 8 keys rudall...
there are any contemporary Charles Nicholson out there??

Chris (Norman) recently mantioned to me of a good virtuoso in London....
but I cannot remember her name...
And I'm sure that must be some very good players in the classical/post Baroque landscape
that I've never heard nothing about...
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Re: Romantic Flute Virtuoso

Post by Gabriel »

Check out Brian Berryman. He's a traverso player by trade but also plays a Rudall & Rose in the 1xxx serial# range. I think he might have recorded classical music on it.
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Re: Romantic Flute Virtuoso

Post by jemtheflute »

Gabriel's - right - I'd forgotten about Brian Berryman - haven't heard his stuff, mind, but he certainly did do at least one CD.

@ Rob - Bart Kuijken is stunning on Baroque flute, but I've never come across a recording or seen mention of him playing even 4-key Classical, let alone 8-key - if you know of any such in his output, please share details!.... I'm sure he's capable, but I don't know of any such output.

FWIW, most of the Period Instrument classical pros reckon to carry around a kit of 4 flutes, from what I've read - a French style early Baroque at A=392, a German High Baroque/Rococco style at c A=415, a 4-key Classical at c A=430 (for Mozart etc.) and a late C18th or early C19th style 8-key (and most of 'em are proficient Bohm players too....). That said, and I've followed the Period Instrument/Historically Informed Performance movement for nearly 30 years, I know of very few recordings specifically using 8-key flutes (for example, I have John Eliot Gardiner's period instrument version of Verdi's Requiem of 1874 - in which the flautists play wooden French Louis Lot Bohm flutes made in the 1860s), and certainly not in solo virtuoso repertory.

The ones I mentioned that Stephen Preston did back in the 1970s and 80s include pieces on 8-key flutes - in duet with Lisa Beznosiuk on the second album, including a superb rendition of Kohler's Valse des Fleurs. The solo album has him playing Nicholson's variations on Home Sweet Home on a 7-key Nicholson Improved. Preston also did an album of Weber's Flute Trio and Sonatas played on a Koch 10 keyed flute.

Stephen Preston - Flute Collection Amon Ra CDSAR19
Stephen Preston & Preston's Pocket - Music for Two Flutes Amon Ra CDSAR11
Stephen Preston - Weber Flute Trio & Sonatas Amon Ra CDSAR21

I'm pretty sure I've done Amazon links for those in the past on C&F.

I think you might find some recordings of the Mozart concertos on 4-key Classical flutes - though I'm not sure off-hand by whom - perhaps John Solum or Janet See? There are certainly quite a few recordings on 1-key flutes. But there's a dearth of C19th stuff.

Here's a scan of the album (vinyl LP!) cover of Preston's Music For Two Flutes album showing the actual flutes they used for the pieces by Haydn, Mozart, Drouet and Kohler:-

Image

Early C19th London-made ivory flutes - a 10-key by Hill, late Monzani & Co. (1831-2) and an 8-key by Drouet c1825.

So much for the Classical side - I mentioned Malo Carvou from Brittany - check this out - he uses the full chromatic capability of the flute for sure, and in ways/to an extent I don't think Barou or Veillon do, geniuses though they be. There's more of Malo there on YT if you hunt about. I think that although his material is not what you asked for, Radcliffe, his playing style/technique/ability may be!

Again, not playing Romantic repertory (though I'm sure she can) there's our own Adrianne Greenbaum playing klezmer on Germanic simple system - a Meyer here, I think. (Radcliffe, you should come to her Manchester day-course! Sign up and help get the numbers to make sure it happens!)
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Rob Sharer
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Re: Romantic Flute Virtuoso

Post by Rob Sharer »

radcliffe wrote:mmm,
I'm looking for something different, more focus on classical / Romantic music,
Something like Barthold Kuijken but on 8 keys rudall...
BK has indeed recorded on an original 8-key Rudall. Not sure which record but it's in the liner notes.


Rob


p.s. here's a link to the discography: http://home.scarlet.be/~pin38638/discog ... uijken.doc
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Re: Romantic Flute Virtuoso

Post by jemtheflute »

Oh, and whilst I'm sure there are many other possibilities, I wonder if Chris Norman meant Rachel Brown? Looking at her biography and discography, she obviously knows "our" flutes, but hasn't recorded much on them save (presumably) in orchestral contexts - and this seems typical to me.

One problem is the repertory - most of the early C19th solo stuff is precisely the kind of virtuoso showpiece/musical trivia Nicholson specialised in - flashy variations of trite, sentimental popular songs or arrangements of opera arias. There just aren't many "serious" or seriously satisfying works for flute between Mozart and modern times (though gradually some better pieces may be re-emerging from obscurity). Plenty of what I just mentioned and technical exercise stuff from the likes of Bohm, Kuhlau, Tulou etc. - but much of the latter is from and for the Bohm era anyway and isn't really suitable for 8-key flute (yeah, I know Tulou was a non-Bohm man!). So, although there is oodles of material from the high Victorian era, most of it is the flute equivalent of the parlour ballad and our current players mostly are not interested in playing it, or no more than dabbling for an encore piece at any rate - and those who do play it are mostly modern silver Bohm players. The period players tend to prefer to stick to the more musically satisfying material from the early Baroque up to CPE Bach and Mozart - and of course play it on 1-key baroque flutes.
I respect people's privilege to hold their beliefs, whatever those may be (within reason), but respect the beliefs themselves? You gotta be kidding!

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Re: Romantic Flute Virtuoso

Post by jemtheflute »

After Rob: maybe this one (another "flutes through the ages" compilation) or this one:
TROCKNE BLUMEN
flute music of the first half of the19th Century

Franz Schubert- 'Trockne Blumen' D 802
Johan Nepomuk Hummel-Sonate d major, opus 50
Franz Xaver Mozart- Rondo e minor
Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy-Sonate f minor, opus 4

Barthold Kuijken, flute(Wilhelm Liebel, Dresden, ca. 1830, & Rudolf Tutz, 1997)
Luc Devos, pianoforte (Johann Fritz, ca.1824)

CD: ACC 97125 D

Romantic flutes, OK, but no Rudall!
I respect people's privilege to hold their beliefs, whatever those may be (within reason), but respect the beliefs themselves? You gotta be kidding!

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Re: Romantic Flute Virtuoso

Post by Rob Sharer »

I'll ask Chris Wilkes; I was at his house when I read the liner notes in question.



Rob
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Re: Romantic Flute Virtuoso

Post by jemtheflute »

More surfing product in a break from hoovering the house.....

nice little blurb on how a top name period performer approaches things. The audio clip is worth a listen.

And I also found this reference to/critique of yet another Amon Ra recording;
Lisa Beznosiuk (flutes) and Nigel North (lute, guitar)
Concord of Sweet Sounds: Baroque and Classical Music for flute & lute/guitar
Amon Ra CD-SAR 33

This recording is a nice example of HIP flute playing. The first three pieces are Baroque works by Locatelli, J.S. Bach and C.P.E. Bach performed on Baroque lute and Baroque flute. These are nicely done but not particularly unusual, since Baroque music on original instruments is reasonably common these days.

The next four pieces are a little out of the ordinary as they are chosen to be representative of Vienna in the early 19th century (at the time of the Congress of Vienna, actually). This is not a period which attracts as many HIP performances. These pieces are performed on 6 string classical guitar of that period (somewhat different from the modern classical guitar) and 8-key wooden flute. The works are by Giuliani, and arrangements by Diabelli of pieces by Beethoven and Schubert.

This is not really my favourite period in music history, since it seems to me that too often arpeggios were mistaken for melody, and modulation into another key for melodic development. However, the pieces selected have a certain charm, and allow Beznosiuk to display her very capable technique very effectively without being hidden behind a wall of vibrato. She does have a very slight natural vibrato, but it is quite subtle. All in all, very pleasant listening.
Hey, I'm doing well here - here's a fascinating resource of samples played on the Collection of the Birmingham Conservatoire (all sorts of instruments - including flutes played by LB).

Still an' all, compared to what can readily be found for Baroque and for ITM fluting, there really ain't a lot out there.

Back to the hoover.........
I respect people's privilege to hold their beliefs, whatever those may be (within reason), but respect the beliefs themselves? You gotta be kidding!

My YouTube channel
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Low Bb flute: 2 reels (audio)
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Re: Romantic Flute Virtuoso

Post by jemtheflute »

Surfing again - this is a hoot! Whilst the bulk of the information given is accurate and it illustrates the problem with repertory, the attitude (from a modern silver flute orientated source - contrast with LB's reasons for why she preferred the wooden flute!) to the sound capabilities of "our" flutes represents neither our typical experience in ITM nor the thoughts and comments of contemporaries about e.g. Nicholson.

And here's another discussion of the lack of material. Some of the pieces mentioned, such as the Mercadante concerti are now quite often performed by Bohm fluters - I don't know what model of flute Mercadante actually wrote for (and played) - couldn't quickly get even the actual dates of the concerti - but his life spans the 2nd & 3rd quarters of the C19th - right across the development and transition era. No period performances that I found either - not even on wooden Bohm!
I respect people's privilege to hold their beliefs, whatever those may be (within reason), but respect the beliefs themselves? You gotta be kidding!

My YouTube channel
My FB photo albums
Low Bb flute: 2 reels (audio)
Flute & Music Resources - helpsheet downloads
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