Customer Reviews

Mozart - Flute Concerto No. 1 · Concerto for Flute and Harp · Clarinet Concerto / Pahud · Langlamet · S. Meyer · Berlin Phil. · Abbado

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

As a professional flutist I've long been an admirer of Pahud's playing. Still, when this CD was released, I sighed at the thought of yet another Mozart Concerto recording. I was wrong - this is far from being just another Mozart recording. It is excellent in every conceivable way, from Pahud's wonderful and intelligent music-making, his perfectly beautiful flute playing, to the Berlin Phil's expressive and appropriate accompaniment. Pahud never ceases to amaze me with how expressive he is able to be (no small challenge on the flute), while always remaining in perfect taste. Even if you have no particular interest in the flute, this is a moving and marvelous CD to own.

I don't consider myself to be a big fan of flute playing, however Emmanuel Pahud's mastery of the instrument has bowled me over, his playing here is nothing less than brilliant. Langlamet and Meyer's playing is in the same realm. Both the flute concerto and the concerto for flute and harp are serene and ethereal in these performances yet they never degenerate into new-age wallpaper. The clarinet concerto conveys a more grounded atmosphere than the other two works, this performance makes an all too familiar work sound fresh. The Berlin Philharmonic, under Claudio Abbado, interacts beautifully with the soloists and the recorded sound is clear without being harsh or too closely miked (a problem with many other recordings of these and similar works). I highly recommend this recording to anyone who is either familiar with this repetoire or is just discovering it.

Absolutely beautiful playing on the flute, clarinet and harp, and fantastic accompanying by the Berliner Philharmoniker.

Pahud's playing is sweet, stylish, and just simply full of life and beauty. I am bowled over, and it's easy to see why he is considered a master of Mozart.

Meyer's clarinet playing, although I am no judge of the clarinet, also seems very very good and senstive to the music, and to my ear is very beautiful. Certainly the best or one of the best recordings I have heard of that piece.

Buy it! It's hard to see how anyone could be disappointed.

I look forward to hearing more. Buy it!

Emmanuel Pahud's bright, lyrical playing easily draws comparisons with James Galway's playing; like Galway he was once the principal flutist of the Berlin Philharmonic. His performances in both flute concertos are simply quite captivating. He's fortunate to be accompanied by the Berlin Philharmonic with Claudio Abbado conducting; their performances are as warm and as vibrant as Pahud's playing. Sabine Meyer gives a glowing performance of her own as the soloist on the Mozart Clarinet Concerto. This fine CD is certainly recommended as the best digital recording of these Mozart concerti.

I thought this CD would rise to the top of my desert island list. Critical Wisdom says this performance by Sabine Meyer, a clarinetist I greatly admire, with Claudio Abbado, a terrific conductor and sensitive accompanist (although not always able to finesse the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra; his best work during this period is generally with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe) is even *better* than Meyer's first recording with the late Hans Vonk and the Dresden Staatskapelle. That's no small accomplishment, as I've always felt the DS is a better orchestra than its reputation. (They don't seem to travel much, which probably has something to do with it.) So I was eager to hear this CD. Further exciting me was the fact that this was recorded live. The Vonk, which was done in a studio, had to my ears the electricity of a live performance itself, so I could only imagine what this reading would be like.

Unfortunately, I came away disappointed. I find Meyer un-insightful here, merely playing notes, with a very sedate quality and not her best tone (she's a bit buzzy). On her authentic basset-clarinet, she adds some lower-register flourishes and decorations that to me seem superfluous and even get in the way of the music's momentum at times. I'm no stickler for note-replication, and am aware probably more than most people how the line we have for the instrument is more of a sketch than a finished product (the same is true of Mozart's other concertos--the soloist was supposed to embellish the lines), but at the same time I didn't find these embellishments to be particularly creative, insightful or clever. If anything she needs more imagination: merely adding a flourish here or a grace note there gets underwhelming after a while and cheats us of the insights that are supposed to come from revisiting the works in HIP style.

Abbado leads his forces in a rather fleet, shapeless and expressionless performance. Maybe there was bad blood between Ms. Meyer and her ex-orchestra, the one that all but kicked her out, but I don't hear any chemistry between her and the exes. They seem to be on autopilot, monolithic and even bored. Nobody here sounds like they're having the time of their life, which is what I hear in the Vonk recording. (And what little I've heard of Vonk, with the exception of that recording, has not exactly blown me away.) Great moments of pathos and reflection in the slow movement and even the finale--I'm thinking of the secondary theme--are absent here. I'm not saying to milk it, as I'm aware of far too many overly-Romantic interpretations that make the Adagio sound like a requiem (the justification being, I guess, that this was his last concerto and he surely knew he was dying!). At the same time, the BPO sounds like its mind is on its post-concert dinner plans, and Meyer sounds a bit tentative for my tastes. I expected more from these marquee names.

The flute concerto comes off better, but honestly I don't have a lot of recordings to compare it to--just some 60s Paillard stuff that used to be available on Erato through the good ol' Musical Heritage Society, which is fun enough but hardly kosher by today's standards. And the flute concerti are not Mozart's greatest efforts anyway--he hated writing for the instrument and didn't produce one masterwork for it. But the Flute and Harp Concerto is another story. While some find this a shallow façade of cheeriness--great Sunday brunch music and nothing else--and while I can sympathize with that view, I nevertheless like the work, for its astonishing inventiveness (count the themes he crams into these three average-length movements!) and technical difficulties he throws at the poor harp player, who after this workout must wish he or she had followed his or her parents' advice and gone to law school instead. (On second thought...) I had a professional harpist at my wedding and during an intermission I asked her if she knew this piece. She made a face of pain and said yes, she was learning it and it was *hard.* To quote Lawrence of Arabia, the trick, William Potter, is not minding that it hurts. The forces here, on period wooden flute and what I gather is a period harp, though I wouldn't know what that constitutes, play this gay and delightful work with sunshine and warmth. I'd like to hear a little more line in the second movement, but that may be hard in period interpretations. I hear more involvement here with flautist Emmanuel Pahud and harpist Marie-Pierre Langlamet than I do with Ms. Meyer, so maybe it is a case of bad blood after all. Sound throughout is very fine. If you love the flute works by all means get this CD, but if the Clarinet Concerto is your main interest you can do better.

emmanuel pahud is phony as it comes. how can one play so well and achieve so little? for one who spends half the reicital oogling at girls in the audience and making phallic flute gestures you'd think he'd have some spark in his music. not to be. save your money.