Sharon Bezaly - Aram Khachaturian & Einojuhani Rautavaara: Flute Concertos (2016)

×

Sharon Bezaly - Aram Khachaturian & Einojuhani Rautavaara: Flute Concertos (2016)

Close

Jean-Pierre Rampal’s transcription for flute of Aram Khachaturian’s Violin Concerto works better on disc than in the concert hall, where the exotic – not to say rowdy – orchestration can overwhelm the soloist. Sharon Bezaly makes a wonderful case for it on this new disc, throwing herself into the exuberant Armenian rhythms with abandon. The first-movement cadenza, composed by Rampal, who was given carte blanche by the composer, is highly persuasive, although her tone isn’t as full and lush in the Andante sostenuto as on Emmanuel Pahud’s recording. Enrique Diemecke gives the São Paulo Symphony full rein in the boisterous finale, Bezaly softly lyrical in its more reflective moments.

BIS has a very special relationship with Rautavaara’s Flute Concerto Dances with the Winds. Robert von Bahr, founder of the label, and his wife co-commissioned it in 1974. Gunilla von Bahr gave the premiere in Stockholm. Originally it was written for four flutes (flute, piccolo, alto flute, bass flute) but the composer rewrote the bass flute section for alto to make it slightly more practical. Bezaly gives us both versions here, though possibly only keen students of the flute would wish to listen to both back to back.

In Rautavaara’s spare orchestral writing, I often find the influence of Sibelius, the weighty opening movement here being a good example. The switch to bass flute (tr 4, 4'05") creates a ghostly effect, over spectral string tremolos. Bezaly is lively in the piccolo-led second movement, with its hints of fairground dancing bears. The meditative alto flute dominates the hypnotic slow movement, before bass and normal flute joust with contrabassoon in the finale…before it’s all repeated. An enjoyable disc nonetheless.

Review by Mark Pullinger, Gramophone

Sharon Bezaly is likely the most well-known flute soloist since Jean-Pierre Rampal. The first work on this recording establishes a connection between the two. Rampal adapted Khachaturian’s Violin Concerto for flute, creating the Flute Concerto found here.

Is the Flute Concerto a lively romp, as one might expect from acquaintance with the ballets, particularly the Sabre Dance? Indeed it is. It’s hard to believe that, as the liner notes tell us, Khachaturian’s work was accused of “formalistic distortions”, and kept under wraps in the late 40’s and early 50’s, until the thaw after Stalin and Zhdanov. This work is vivid, but hardly abstract or “anti-democratic”.

Of course, the flute brings a completely different personality to a concerto than does a violin. In this work, however, as performed by Bezaly, there is no sacrifice in virtuosity or interest.

The orchestra accompanying in this concerto is the Sao Paulo Symphony Orchestra. They are quickly building a worthy legacy of recordings, particularly on BIS and Naxos. Their work here adds to their stature. All told, the Khachaturian performance is highly recommended.

Rautavaara may be a Finn, but his Flute Concerto, titled “Dances with the Winds”, also comes with an air of the exotic and eastern. It is, however, a quieter and more introspective work. The notes remark on the influence of Debussy and Messiaen.

This concerto comes in two versions, both present on this recording. The first requires the soloist to switch among four flutes: piccolo, standard, alto, and bass. In the “more practical” second version, the alto flute also carries the parts written for the bass flute in the first version.

In the Rautavaara concerto, Bezaly is accompanied by the Lahti Symphony Orchestra, conducted by its incoming music director Dima Slobodeniouk. The combination they produce for this work sounds like a cold, Nordic take on French Orientalism, with occasional outbursts that sound like “symphonic dances, with flutes”. I assume this is what the composer intended, but it’s an uneasy combination of flavours.

Khachaturian’s work is of lasting value. My opinion of Rautavaara’s is more ambivalent, but I do think it’s worth hearing and forming one’s own judgement. Given the two versions of the latter work, you won’t want to put this disc in and listen to it straight through in one sitting.

Review by Brian Burtt, MusicWeb-International.com

×

Sharon Bezaly - Aram Khachaturian & Einojuhani Rautavaara: Flute Concertos (2016)

Close

×

Sharon Bezaly - Aram Khachaturian & Einojuhani Rautavaara: Flute Concertos (2016)

Close