KALEVI AHO : Solo (Sharon Bezaly · Piet Van Bockstal · Marie-Luise Neunecker · Smuli Peltonen · Simon Reitmaier · Bram van Sambeek · Hiyoli Togawa) (2021) SACD · Hybrid | FLAC (image+.cue) lossless

With Kalevi Aho's growing set of Solos for each of the orchestral instruments reaching its 17th edition (for clavichord and dedicated to flutist and clavichordist Michael Hasel) in 2020, this inaugural volume of BIS' survey of these works, which spans nearly three decades, is very welcome. Four of the present recordings have been released previously, and four feature the dedicatee performing. Following on Aho's concertos for all the orchestral instruments, these solos do much to test the abilities of the player with extended techniques and harmonics. The works, several written as competition test pieces, not only offer the performers room to grow as artists, they give the musicians a chance to show off their personality. These extended techniques and individuality are on full display in the Solo V for bassoon: Bram van Sambeek, who has made a reputation for adventurous programming, offers more than technical ability as he conquers the extremes of the instrument. The earliest work here, Solo III for flute, was composed at two different times, with the first movement written on commission in 1990 for that year's Scandinavian Flute Competition. Though written at a slower tempo, it is thoroughly complex and demanding of the player. The second movement was composed in 1991 when Aho decided to add a contrasting, virtuosic fast movement. Marked presto, it begins in the lower register, delivering a flurry of notes in perpetual motion through the upper register as it concludes the album at a prestissimo. Flutist Sharon Bezaly so impressed Aho with this recording that he composed his flute concerto for her. BIS is to be commended for the quality and cohesion found in these recordings, especially considering the diverse recording locations and the instruments involved. An intriguing start to this survey, with future volumes sure to entice. Keith Finke
Kalevi Aho (b. 1949)
1. Solo IV for cello
2. Solo XII - in memoriam EJR for viola
3. Solo IX for oboe
4. Solo XIV for clarinet
5. Solo V for bassoon
6. Solo X for horn
7-8. Solo III for flute

Samuli Peltonen : Cello
Hiyoli Togawa : Viola
Piet Van Bockstal : Oboe
Simon Reitmaier : Clarinet
Bram van Sambeek : Bassoon
Marie-Luise Neunecker : Horn
Sharon Bezaly : Flute

KHACHATURIAN, RAUTAVAARA : Flute Concertos (Sharon Bezaly) (2016) SACD / FLAC (image+.cue), lossless

SHARON BEZALY • LOVE DERWINGER with special guest BARBARA HENDRICKS - French Delights (2007) Mp3

Israeli-born Swedish flutist Sharon Bezaly has been in the forefront of a group of players who have rediscovered the virtuoso literature of the flute (and other instruments) from the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, in France especially. She yields to no one in the technical arena, flawlessly executing the circular-breathing techniques and the careening arpeggiations written into the six works presented here. But this disc is about something other than sheer virtuosity -- although there is plenty of that on display here (check out the final Valse of Benjamin Godard's Suite de trois morceaux, Op. 116), the listener who is interested purely in technical frontiers might do just as well to check out her recording of Jacques Ibert's flute concerto, also on the BIS label. What's remarkable about this release is the rediscovery of music long since thrown onto the historical scrap heap, and the shaping of that music into a satisfying program. Bezaly brackets the program with showcases of technique -- the little-known Godard suite and the 1946 Sonatine of Pierre Sancan. Next, at each end, comes works with more complex rhythms or textures, the pleasing, slightly jazzy Sonatine of Milhaud, and another obscure work, the Suite for flute and piano, Op. 34, of Charles-Marie Widor, otherwise known mostly for his organ music and just a few pieces at that. In Bezaly's hands and that of pianist Love Derwinger, the flute and piano take on an almost organ-like sound, with dense harmonies filling out basically simple structures. With the center of the program, the listener comes, one might say, to the center of the mystery in the often Eastern-flavored Joueurs de flûte, Op. 27, and most surprisingly the Deux poèmes de Ronsard, Op. 26, for the rare combination of soprano and flute. Try playing the album for someone without describing its contents -- the ethereal African-American-Swedish singer Barbara Hendricks seems to come out of nowhere and lead the listener into a charmed realm to which Bezaly's playing has pointed the way. The program as a whole is light but wholly absorbing. If there's a complaint it's the sound, which does pick up the technical details but is on the harsh side, with lots of breathing noise that audiences simply wouldn't have heard or wanted to hear when these works were originally performed. by James Manheim  

NICOLAS BACRI : Sturm und Drang (Kantorow) (2009) Mp3