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RECITAL 1991--PROGRAM NOTES
Charles Koechlin: Fourteen Pieces for flute and piano
Kyle Hoepner: Sonata for flute and piano
Gioacchino Rossini: William Tell Overture
(Arranged for flute and string trio by J. Küffner)
- Intermission -
Astor Piazzolla: Études tanguistiques
Lowell Liebermann: Sonata for Flute and Piano
Of all Charles Koechlin's works for the flute, the Fourteen Pieces best exemplify what he referred to as his "Alsacian temperament"--a direct, almost naïve sincerity. These folk-like melodies, originally written for flute alone, have about them a whiff of antiquity and an appealing directness of expression. Koechlin added the piano part later, placing his monodies in a setting of effortless harmonic and contrapuntal finesse. In this music he wears his enormous erudition lightly, and speaks to us simply, directly, and without a trace of affectation.
--FS
My flute sonata came into the world as a result of a chance remark by Fenwick Smith. No doubt unaware of the danger of saying such things in front of a composer, he was lamenting the scarcity of "big" American flute pieces. I, of course, immediately decided to write one. Taking "big" to mean both "long" and "substantial," I ended up with the present two movements, which add up to some sixteen minutes.
The first movement, Allegro deciso, is mostly fast and athletic. The slower central rubato section actually contains the climax of the movement, although this may not immediately be apparent given the violence at the end. The second movement is a theme and variations, with the theme presented largely as a single line in the piano. This movement divides into two main sections: the first four variations get slower and slower, until things threaten to come to a complete standstill (partway through variation 4, which is marked, not surprisingly, Immobile); variations 5 through 7 begin fast and get faster still, until everything dissolves into a frenetic cadenza. After this subsides, the piece comes to a close with an eighth variation that echoes the theme in a passage for solo flute.
The score was completed in May, 1991, and is dedicated to the person responsible for its existence.
--Kyle Hoepner
If there is any piece that needs no introduction to concert audiences, it is the Overture to William Tell. The fact that it is appearing on a flute recital, however, could perhaps use some explaining: The great popularity of the flute in the 18th and early 19th centuries, and the absence of copyright protection--a later invention--together fostered a thriving commerce in transcriptions of popular operatic, orchestral, and instrumental music. This version of William Tell, one of a series of ten Rossini overtures arranged for flute and string trio, is testimony not only to the popularity of the flute, but to the prompt success of Rossini's operas.
Astor Piazzolla's recent recording "Zero Hour" is emblazoned with the legend "Tango + Tragedy + Comedy + Kilombo (Whorehouse) = New Tango." It has been Piazzolla's life work to bring the tango from the 19th into the 20th century, and from the bordellos and dance halls of Argentina into the concert halls of Europe and America. He is one of that astonishingly large and disparate group of composers whose lives were changed by their study with Nadia Boulanger: she encouraged him to apply to the tango what he had learned in his studies with her. In his hands, the tango has been developed and revitalized, incorporating the broadest possible range of tempo, expression, and rhythmic variety, as well as references, or "reminiscences," as Piazzolla puts it, of Bartók, Stravinsky, and others. The four tangos on this program are drawn from a set of six Études tanguistiquesin which Piazzolla entrusts to the unaccompanied flute an expressive and coloristic variety more typically provided by bandoneon, violin, piano, and bass.
--FS
The Sonata for Flute and Piano op. 23 was written in 1987 for flutist Paula Robison as the result of a commission from the Spoleto Festival Chamber Music Series. It was given its first performance at the 1988 Spoleto Festival by Robison and pianist Jean-Yves Thibodet. The following year it was chosen by the National Flute Association as one of the Best Newly Published Flute Works of 1989.
The Sonata is in two movements: the first, a tightly structured Lento with much contrasting material; and the second, a rondo-like Presto energico that requires the utmost in virtuosity from both flutist and pianist.
--Lowell Liebermann
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