Tempo Flute (France)

In conjunction with the presentation of the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra in the interview with Philippe Boucly published earlier in this issue, there appears a CD devoted entirely to the piccolo by Natalie Schwaabe, also a member of this orchestra in which she plays the flute as well as the piccolo. All her talent, which is on par with the other members of this prestigious phalanx, is affirmed here in a demanding and daring programme and which brings many new discoveries.

Between these and some other pieces that are already well known this side of the Rhine such as Donatoni’s Nidi (which represents, along with Derek Charke’s Lachrymose, the piccolo solo pieces for this programme, and also serve to demonstrate the expressive character of this instrument) or Mike Mower’s Sonata for Piccolo and Piano, it is truly a celebration of the piccolo, pushed to its virtuoso limits and beautifully served up, as with Gyöngyössi’s Bartok-like Sonata, which could not better suit the instrument, or in Wilden’s poignant, balanced and dreamlike Two and a half piece. Mikalsen’s Huit ilium, inspired by the science-fiction novels of Kurt Vonnegut, brings a narrative flavour, while Kanefzy’s Pied Piper of Hamelin drives the narrative into this programme by associating the story’s narrator with both the small and the big flutes.

—Pascal Gresset