D'arcangelo, Rita / Mazzoccante, Giuliano
Voix De Pan, French Masterpieces For Flute & Piano
This Da Vinci Classics Album comprises a series of better or lesser-known masterpieces: some are among the most famous works in flute literature, whilst others are familiar to specialists mainly. These works were all composed in France between the last decades of the nineteenth century and - roughly - the first half of the twentieth. Among them is Charles-Marie Widors Suite op. 34, composed for Paul Taffanel, the legendary flute player, pedagogue and composer. Taffanel himself authored an Andante pastoral et Scherzettino with the purpose of employing this pair as an examination piece at the Paris Conservatoire. The same destination was envisaged for Faurs Morceau de concours, also recorded here. Other works in this album connect music with literature: this happens with Donjons beloved Elegie, which is opened by a quotation after Jean Richepine, and, particularly, with Mouquets La flûte de Pan, a three-movement Sonata which not only is inspired by a literary work (i.e. Ovids Metamorphoses), but also features literary quotations before each one of its movements. But the best known piece in this collection is certainly Francis Poulencs magnificent Flute Sonata, which is probably the most played work in this genre in flute literature - and deservedly so.