Unlike most reviews, this one ends up as a rather cut and dried affair. The performances are excellent, beyond reasonable reproach; the sound provided by Delos is vivid and sumptuous; and the copious notes are informative. The only question of concern for the potential buyer is whether the concept of the is album will appeal. That is, do you like the idea of favorite opera arias played on flute? We've had opera without words, opera transcribed and elaborated on for piano (by Liszt and others), and we've even had opera ...
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Unlike most reviews, this one ends up as a rather cut and dried affair. The performances are excellent, beyond reasonable reproach; the sound provided by Delos is vivid and sumptuous; and the copious notes are informative. The only question of concern for the potential buyer is whether the concept of the is album will appeal. That is, do you like the idea of favorite opera arias played on flute? We've had opera without words, opera transcribed and elaborated on for piano (by Liszt and others), and we've even had opera incorporated into the score of many, sometimes lesser films. Why not, some might ask, have it on flute, then? And what better element of opera to capture than the aria? Actually, not all material on this disc is derived from arias, a good many being duets, with the oboe filling the role of the second voice here. The piano, of course, assumes the orchestral part throughout.The opening selection, in fact, is a duet, "Dome epais, le jasmin," from Delibes' Lakme. The players convey its...
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