Pizzicato
On this album, the Czech Philharmonic Wind Orchestra members demonstrate their exceptional talent. First up is Franz Krommer’s heartwarming and fresh Partita. The musicians’ wonderfully fluid performance, full of pulsating life, will fill listeners with enthusiasm for this beautiful partita, which is far too rarely played. In this arrangement by Shea Lolin, the musicians render it enchantingly as musical fun.
Strauss’s Serenade is charming, as are virtually all of Shea Lolin’s arrangements.
The beautiful and lyrical Flute Concertino by Cécile Chaminade gives Scottish flutist Fiona Sweeney the opportunity to shine in this wonderfully flowery work.
Constant Lambert (1905-1951) composed his ballet Roméo et Juliette for Serge Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes. The evocative piece premiered in 1924.
Finally, we hear More Gordian Knots by British composer Guy Woolfenden (1937-2016), a piece that is bold in the outer movements and lyrical in the middle movement, inspired by Henry Purcell.
Impressed by the wit, exuberance, and pathos of Purcell’s theater music, he first composed a work for clarinet ensemble. The woodwind orchestra version, with the new title More Gordian Knots, was arranged by the composer and premiered in November 2010 under the baton of Shea Lolin. The Czech Woodwind Orchestra tackles the score with skill and enthusiasm. The homogeneity of the very transparent-sounding orchestra is impressive.
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