Bach flute sonatas

When one decides to write about the flute sonatas of Johann Sebastian Bach, you can write chapters upon chapters - from the controversy surrounding playing Bach sonatas on the modern silver flute (instead of the authentic baroque flute), to which parts are authentic (immediatly I'm thinking of the A major sonata where authentic parts are missing).

I am not attempting to write an essay on the Bach Flute Sonatas (not yet anyway..), just merely a blog to make my readers aware of a brilliant recording that's out there of these masterful compositions.

An internationally acclaimed flutist that I've been following for many years now, Emmanuel Pahud, has done a recording of the sonatas: the e minor and major, the b minor and A major, E flat and C major, G major and minor. It is a 2 CD album - http://www.pahudbach.com/

I have always admired Pahud's tone quality and technique, and on this recordings he has such an incredible tone (very very slight vibratos on the long notes and a wonderful fat sound on the low notes), fluent phrasings and amazing breath control (needed for the long passages). It just seems that the music flows out of his golden flute as his finger technique is just fantastic! On this recording, he is joined by Trevor Pinnock on the harpsichord.

Please do yourself a favour, when you visit http://www.pahudbach.com/ have a look at the video where Pahud and Pinnock is talking to Stephen Johns about the recording of the sonatas (3rd page of the website). For more information regarding Emmanuel Pahud, you can visit http://www.emiclassics.com/artistbiography.php

    

                                                                                     

Some other flutists that have recorded the flute sonatas, are:
Jean-Pierre Rampal http://www.cduniverse.com/search/xx/music/pid/1224266/a/Bach3A+Flute+Sonatas.htm
Aurèle Nicolet http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/bach-j-s-flute-sonatas-bwv/id4364814
William Bennett http://www.amazon.com/Bach-Sonatas-Michael-J-Evans/dp/B0000CEONH
Peter-Lukas Graf http://www.amazon.com/s?ie=UTF8&keywords=Graf%2C%20Peter-Lukas&rh=n%3A85%2Ck%3AGraf%5Cc%20Peter-Lukas&page=1
James Galway http://www.amazon.com/Bach-Flute-Sonatas-Johann-Sebastian/dp/B000003FP6

Renée Fleming - "The peoples' diva"

With more than 50 CD's to her name, about 39 opera roles, sung in opera houses around the globe, awards (including a grammy award for Verismo), Renée Fleming, http://www.reneefleming.com/ ,is one of the most celebrated operatic figures of today. Sir Georg Solti, who conducted Renée Fleming's first solo aria recording for Decca, described the impact of her singing; "Quite apart from the sheer lyrical beauty of voice, she has an innate musicianship which makes every performance a great joy." "Here's a singer who has reached complete maturity as a singer and artist, revelling in her vocal and interpretative powers", said Gramophone of Great Opera Scenes. Her 1996 collection of Mozart arias, with the Orchestra of St Luke's conducted by Sir Charles Mackerras received a Grammy nomination and her first Decca release was as Fiordiligi in Così fan tutte with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe and Sir Georg Solti. -
http://www.renee-fleming.com/

      

She has the incredible talent to be versatile and to be able to successfully cover a wide range of musical styles as this excellence can be witnessed in her Decca recordings, http://www.decca.com/artists/renee-fleming-1013

"One of the most beloved and celebrated musical ambassadors of our time, soprano Renée Fleming captivates audiences with her sumptuous voice, consummate artistry, and compelling stage presence. Known as “the people’s diva,” she continues to grace the world’s greatest opera stages and concert halls, now extending her reach to include other mediums. Over the past few seasons, Ms. Fleming has begun hosting a wide variety of television and radio broadcasts, including the Metropolitan Opera’s Live in HD series for movie theaters and television, and Live from Lincoln Center on PBS. In 2008, a precedent was broken when Ms. Fleming became the first woman in the 125-year history of the Metropolitan Opera to headline an opening night gala." - http://www.reneefleming.com/about/

Personally, isn't it wonderful for such a beautiful and talented artist to raise opera to such an extremely high level that the world of opera is rediscovered?...

Renee Fleming goes jazz

The great opera singer, Renee Fleming (http://www.reneefleming.com/), has recorded a jazz CD. This CD is called Haunted Heart and it was released in 2005.

How many times have heard opera singers singing different genres of music besides opera? Sometimes it just doesn't work, and all of a sudden here comes Renee Fleming, an internationally acclaimed opera diva, with a jazz CD. She has dropped her vocal range an octave, adding a 'husky' tone and whisper to her voice making this CD a truely remarkable. She is accompanied by Fred Hersch on the piano and Bill Frisell on the guitar.

Songs from Joni Mitchell, Bob Dylan, Guy Lombardo, Stevie Wonder and The Beatles (to name a few), are recorded with unique, sensitive and emotional arrangements. One of my favourite tracks on this CD is Answer me. Follow the link to hear it http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SMHCNrmGues

For more information and a review of the CD, visit http://www.puremusic.com/49fleming.html or if you would like to listen snippets of the tracks, visit http://www.amazon.com/Haunted-Heart-Sonny-Burke/dp/B0007Z9QUS%22

Flute beatboxing

I was not sure how to categorized this style of music: beatboxing is actually categorized as "hip hop", but some of this techniques are used in the classical flute repertoire, for example:

George Crumb's Voice of the Whale, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e6IWoHguF4o,

Toru Takemitsu's Voice for Flute, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JiblAoSDobY&feature=related,

or several works by Ian Clarke such as Within, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y6U-vE8YKE0.

But after listening to some of Greg Patillo's recordings, I have decided to categorize it as jazz.

But what is flute beatboxing or fluteboxing? It "represents an innovation in the extended technique of the flute". "Involving the production of stereoscopic flute tones (producing two separate sounds by humming while blowing into the flute) combined with vocal percussion and aural prestidigitation (slight-of-ear), flute beatboxing enables the use of the flute as a rhythmic instrument".
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flute_beatboxing

"Greg Pattillo, http://www.pattillostyle.com/, has developed a system of essentially traditional notation for flute beatboxing, with one staf for the flute and one - similar to that for drum kits for the percussice effects". With the "Project Trio", more information regarding this can be found on his website, Greg teams up with a cellist and a bassist, playing a variety of music genres and arrangements. Have a look at this link, here he and the cellist, Eric Stephenson, does their rendition of Eurythmics' Sweet Dreams, http://vodpod.com/watch/3104602-youtube-greg-pattillo-and-eric-stephenson-sweet-dreams.

Another beatboxing flutist is Nathan Lee. Do yourself a favor and have a look at this amazing video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e3kyNGVK-hI.

It is so amazing to see how classically traditional instruments are used to produce such modern and "cool" sounds and effects..and I'm so proud to see how hip a flute can sound!!

Eurovision Young Musician 2010

The Final of the 2010 Eurovision Young Musician Competition was held on 14 May, at the Rathausplatz, Vienna.
This competition was won by a flutist!! A sixteen year old flutist from Slovenia!

16 year old Eva-Nina Kozmus won the competition with her interpertation of the Ibert Flute Concerto (3rd movement).

"Born in 1994 in Celje, Slovenia, she began playing flute and piano at age 7. She is currently an undergraduate at the Ljubljana Music and Ballet Conservatory. Eva-Nina Kozmus began competing in 2005 in an international flute competition in Serbia and has since gone on to compete in several competitions in Slovenia, Serbia, Croatia, as well as Italy. She is a member of the Ljubljana Music and Ballet Conservatory Symphony and Chamber Orchestra and performs with several renowned international orchestras." - http://www.youngmusicians.tv/

Have a look at the video of her performance, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zrcKu4YSnIg. Wonderful musicality,sensitivity, great intonation, and amazing breath control for the phrasings that looks and sounds to be so effortless for her..