Franz Schubert - Impromptu In B Flat - Theme And Variations For Flute

Arranged with a newly composed Finale by Louis Moyse. The Viennese triumvirate Mozart Beethoven and Haydn does not include Schubert despite the wealth of music he composed in his short life. His early Romantic style juxtaposeslyrical melodies with exciting drama throughout his compositions. Although originally composed for piano this arrangement is as equally charming and musically effective.

The quartet in a minor is one of the chamber music works with which Schubert wanted to “pave the way to the great symphony” in spring 1824. At the same time he was paving his way to a wider audience as the“Rosamunde” Quartet was the first and only string quartet that was not only publicly performed in Schubert’s lifetime but also published in parts. It is fortunate for us that this was the case because theautograph of this much-loved quartet is missing today and the only source for the work is the first edition. And this is precisely where the challenge lies as the parts exhibit some inaccuracies regarding the articulation anddynamics. They have had to be carefully resolved something which our new Urtext edition has done in an exemplary fashion. Its name can be traced back to Schubert’s incidental music to the play Rosamunde which can be heardat the beginning of the Andante. Quite a few people might however be reminded of the Impromptu in B flat major op. post. 142 no. 3 in which Schubert later once again took up the beautiful melody.

Piano Reduction including solo part. Par DENISOV EDISON. The catalogue of Edison Denisov's works includes 16 concertos. It was a genre to which he returned time and again throughout his life, from the Concerto for Cello and Orchestra of 1972 to the Double Concerto for Flute, Clarinet and Orchestra of 1996. In Denisov's music the role of the soloist, or rather the protagonist, is extraordinarily important, not so much for its virtuosity as for its confessional character. The solo part is a monologue distinguished by poetic diction and a very personal message from the composer. The dramaturgical conception of the Concerto for Saxophone and Orchestra, a reworking of the Viola Concerto of 1986, draws on traditional sonata form, thereby reaffirming the ubiquitous classicism in Denisov's thought. In this late work, we find all the typical features of his style: sinuous melodic lines layered into dense contrapuntal textures, and an interplay of orchestral colours, with pure sonorities contrasting with complex mixtures of sounds. It is a perfect dramaturgy that governs the evolution of the music to the very end. The first movement assumes the role of a sonata-allegro, with the standard formal sections of exposition, development, recapitulation and coda. The second movement is an Adagio for strings. The third takes the form of a little contrasting intermezzo that introduces both new thematic material and a new range of colours. Here tunefulness gives way to pointillism enriched with sonic effects. The only movement with a virtuosic solo part, its nervousness and inner tension set it worlds apart from the second and fourth movements that surround it. The fourth movement assumes the traditional form of a final set of variations. It is the dramaturgical and semantic heart of the concerto. The theme of the variations is Franz Schubert's Impromptu in B-flat major, op. 142, which in this case is 'born' from the celesta as the product of a dodecaphonic string cluster. This finale represents Denisov's homage to his great mentor, Schubert's music being for him a symbol of eternal and universal beauty. 'The attentive listener', Denisov stressed, 'will recognise that the Impromptu theme is already suggested very slowly in the course of the three preceding movements, not only thematically, but also psychologically. That's what makes the appearance of the Schubert theme sound so natural.' The variations relate to the variation genre less in their form than in their spiritual and conceptual metamorphoses. It is, one might say, 'music round about Schubert'. (Ekaterina Kouprovskaia-Denisova)/ Répertoire / Saxophone Alto et Piano

[Impromptu Es-Dur Opus 90 Nr. 2 D 899] / Classique / Editeur : Walter Gieseking / Doigtés : Walter Gies / Partition / Broché / Edition Urtext

[Impromptu Ges-Gur Opus 90 Nr. 3 D 899] / Classique / Editeur : Walter Gieseking / Doigtés : Walter Gies / Partition / Broché / Edition Urtext