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"... What you hear is impeccable playing by Shulman and Tryon. The CD opens with five delightful pieces from Haydn's 'The Musical Clock,' and proceeds to Mozart's 'Sonata no.1' ... Shulman and Tryon perform Mélanie Hélène Bonis's 'Sonate' and Francis Poulenc's 'Sonata' with polished charm and suavity." - Leonard Turnevicius, The Hamilton Spectator
The Musical Clock and Other Timeless Masterpieces features beautiful music for flute selected by Suzanne Shulman. She is accompanied on the recording by pianist Valerie Tryon.
The recording opens with music by Haydn. These pieces make a charming program opener. Haydn was able to capture the precision of a mechanical device with the human components of elegance and humour.
Mozart’s Sonata in Bb Major, originally for piano and violin, lies rather low in the register when played on flute. Playing in the original key allows us to enjoy all the richly burnished colours of the lower tones.
French composer Mélanie Bonis’s Sonata for Flute and Piano, composed in 1904, shows the influence of her teacher César Franck. The music is infused with a palpable longing, but also with moments of joy and playfulness.
The Poulenc Sonata was composed for Jean-Pierre Rampal who gave its first performance with the composer at the piano. Rampal has said that the first movement, Allegro malinconico, is like "un oiseau mélancolique", a sad bird, and that the Presto giocoso should sound like "Paris in a traffic jam!"
In 1964 Harry Somers was asked to write the music for a film about the life of the painter Pablo Picasso. The suite of orchestral pieces includes a movement for solo flute that has a haunting mood and evokes the sensuality of the Vollard Etchings of the 1930s.
Milton Barnes was a Canadian composer, conductor and jazz drummer. His style is a fusion of jazz, classical, and pop music. In this solo flute piece he alternates between contemplative material and the exuberant outbursts of the jazz drummer.
Catalog: MAR471
Track Listing
Franz Josef Haydn: 5 pieces from The Musical Clock
1 III – Allegro vivace
2 VIII – Andante
3 VI – Fuga
4 VII – Marche
5 XII – Presto
W. A. Mozart: Sonata No. 1 in Bb Major- K378
6 I – Allegro moderato
7 II – Andantino sostenuto e cantabile
8 III – Rondo allegro (Listen)
Mélanie Hélène Bonis: Sonate
9 I – Andantino con moto
10 II – Scherzo – Vivace
11 III – Adagio
12 IV – Finale – Moderato
Francis Poulenc: Sonata
13 I – Allegro malinconico
14 II – Cantilena – Assez lent
15 III – Presto giocoso
16 Harry Somers: Etching – The Vollard Suite
17 Milton Barnes: Music for Solo Flute
Total playing time: 63:00
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