This utterly fascinating compendium, with admirable notes by Susan Milan, of seven famous flute virtuosos of the past has been transferred from early recordings (Vol. 2 from 1911 to 1927, Vol. 1 extending the period to 1941) with remarkably cleaned-up sound without detracting from the players’ characteristic sonorities. (On each disc one unrestored track has been included that reveals the extent to which it has been improved.) So now we can hear Fransella (perhaps the first flautist to make a solo recording) in a movement of the Godard Suite he had played in 1895, and from Barrere the kind of sound that was heard when he had been soloist in the premiere of the Prelude a l’apres-midi d’un faune. Vol. 1 of this series will appeal to more people in general by its greater innate musical value; but Vol. 2, though containing little but extrovert show-pieces, will nevertheless constitute almost essential listening for all flautists and flute students. It is instructive, for example, to compare Briccialdi’s Il vento caprice by three players – the Philadelphia Orchestra member Barone (who recorded with Galli-Curci and became an influence in the jazz field), the Australian virtuoso and impresario (Melba’s manager) Lemmone, and the New Zealand legend Amadio – the first two with tremulous fast vibratos, Amadio by far the most musical, with a long cantabile line and fine tonal nuances. He also demonstrates, besides the empty sets of variations to which flautists were often reduced, their then inescapable function of partnering coloratura sopranos (though we are spared any of the later much parodied ‘mad scenes’), and in a sequence of arrangements of national airs plays flute, bass flute and piccolo. For sheer virtuosity I recommend his performance of an arrangement of the Tales of HoffmannBarcarolle and of the finale of Heinrich Hofmann’s Konzertstuck.
Vol. 1 concentrates on three great French flautists, each of whom had a considerable influence on later generations. The most senior was Barrere, who from 1905 occupied the principal’s chair in the New York Symphony Orchestra. His cool, largely uninflected style is best represented here by Bach’s B minor Sonata with the harpsichordist Yella Pessl (for which the track listing has got muddled); but the wild eccentricity of his Elgar Salut d’amour is inexplicable in its lack of taste. The much-recorded Marcel Moyse (a pupil, like Barrere, of the great Taffanel) is heard in a lively and enjoyable reading of the Trio by the 16-year-old Beethoven, splendidly partnered by Obradous and Noel Gallon: its Adagio gives him the opportunity to show some delicate tone colours. But for sheer beauty of sound the outstanding artist here is Rene le Roy, who also exhibits beautifully clean virtuoso technique in a Sonata by Vinci (the track listing again wrong) and the most sensitive range of colour in Honegger’s Danse de la Chevre. A marvellous artist.
LS