Sunday, August 19, 2012

Fantasy - A Night At The Opera


“...a nicely varied collection of flute lollipops inspired by opera, dazzlingly performed by EMI's star flautist...they provide a wonderful vehicle for Pahud's artistry...Pahud plays them with the sort of touches of individuality that mark out the great artists, transforming what could easily seem banal.” --Gramophone Magazine, July 2010







“All the pieces on this album have been transcribed or were written in a version for flute and piano in the 19th century, apart from two. One of these is Lensky’s aria, arranged as a fantasy for violin and piano by our Berlin Philharmonic concert master Guy Braunstein. As a present, he made a flute version of that transcription for me. I had the idea of adding it to this collection of opera favourites in an orchestration that reinstates the original sound of Tchaikovsky in the orchestra.

The other piece that is more recent is the variations on Die Zauberflöte. I had to include The Magic Flute in this collection. But I did not know of any satisfying version until I discovered this one on a recording by a Belgian colleague. It turns out it had been composed for him by a friend as a birthday surprise.” 





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