The title of this Parlophone release is less than elegant and doesn't enlighten the listener as to the contents, which include Mozart only in the second half of the program and do not specifically pertain to him. Instead, flutist Emmanuel Pahud and the Orchestre de Chambre de Paris under François Leleux offer a little survey of Parisian flute music, some of it familiar, some less so. Pahud orders the music reverse-chronologically as if to reveal the layers underneath the later efflorescences of the tradition. He is most at ...
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The title of this Parlophone release is less than elegant and doesn't enlighten the listener as to the contents, which include Mozart only in the second half of the program and do not specifically pertain to him. Instead, flutist Emmanuel Pahud and the Orchestre de Chambre de Paris under François Leleux offer a little survey of Parisian flute music, some of it familiar, some less so. Pahud orders the music reverse-chronologically as if to reveal the layers underneath the later efflorescences of the tradition. He is most at home at the tradition's height in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, where he catches the light, lively, blooming quality of Saint-Saëns works from the very beginning and end of his career. The Flute Concertino, Op. 107, of Cécile Chaminade is a nice find, with gentle melody merging seamlessly into brilliant virtuosity that poses Pahud no difficulties. There is just one contemporary work, but it's a fine one; Philippe Hersant's Dreamtime is inspired by Australian Aboriginal...
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