BaL 14.11.15 - Poulenc: Flute Sonata

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

0930 Building a Library
David Owen Norris compares recordings of Poulenc's ever-green Flute Sonata of 1957 which has become a staple of the flautist's repertoire.


Available versions:



Gunilla von Bahr, Dag Achatz

Don Bailey, Donald Sulzen

Julius Baker, Lisa Logan

William Bennett, Clifford Benson

Philippe Bernold, Alexandre Tharaud

Emily Beynon, Andrew West

Odinn Baldvinnson, Patricia Romero

Sharon Bezaly, Ronald Brautigam

Daniele Bourget, David Jalbert

Michel Debost, Jacques Février

Mathieu Dufour, Pascal Rogé

Ensemble 360

Ensemble MidtVest

Ensemble Wien-Berlin, James Levine

Nicole Esposito, Alan Huckleberry

Patrick Gallois, Lydia Wong

Peter-Lukas Graf, Bernd Glemser (download)

Ashildur Haraldsdottir, Love Derwinger

Anne-Catherine Heinzmann, Thomas Hoppe

Juliette Hurel

Christopher Hyde-Smith, Jane Dodd

Urszula Janik, Joanna Kaczmarska-Biezynska

Kennedy Center Chamber Players

Jeffrey Khaner, Hugh Sung

Michel Moraguès, Pascal Rogé

Nash Ensemble

Abbie de Quant, Elizabeth van Malde

Ileana Ruhemann, Kathron Sturrock

Hansgeorg Schmeiser, Matteo Fossi

Matthias Schulz, Madoka Inui

Astrid Spitznagel (flute & piano)

Jennifer Stinton, Scott Mitchell

Kenneth Smith, Paul Rhodes

Adam Walker, James Baillieu

Henrik Wiese, Eva-Maria May



(orchestrated Lennox Berkeley)

Emily Beynon, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Bramwell Tovey
Katherine Bryan, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Paul Daniel
Jennifer Stinton, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Steuart Bedford
Sharon Bezaly, Residentie Orkest Den Haag, Neeme Järvi



Other

Ulf-Dieter Schaaff, Frank Volke (organ)

[Tony Halstead]

I'm a bit surprised to see no listing of William Bennett's pianist (I deliberately never use the word 'accompanist' in the context of duo sonatas) and of course I am not implicating EA in that omission, presuming that the philistine record company is at fault.
I think there's a very strong probablity that 'Wibb's' pianist here was Clifford Benson ( now sadly late and lamented).

[cloughie]

What an interestingly different choice for BaL. An amazing number of recordings available.

[Tony Halstead]

What an interestingly different choice for BaL. An amazing number of recordings available.

Wot, no Jimmy Galway?

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

I'm a bit surprised to see no listing of William Bennett's pianist (I deliberately never use the word 'accompanist' in the context of duo sonatas) and of course I am not implicating EA in that omission, presuming that the philistine record company is at fault.
I think there's a very strong probablity that 'Wibb's' pianist here was Clifford Benson ( now sadly late and lamented).

I think you're right. There is a download version of the Bennett/Benson.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

It's a work I'm very familiar with, having had several Grade 8 students learning it in recent years.

[cloughie]

Wot, no Jimmy Galway?

Looks like he did the Orchestral arrangement with RPO Dutoit - I have a MD of it copied from Cassette - I guess it was on LP but may not have been CDd.

[aeolium]

I think also DON will want to include at least one extract from a Jean-Pierre Rampal recording since the work was written for him. There is at least one available in an Erato box set of Rampal's recordings (though it is a set of 20 CDs):

http://www.prestoclassical.co.uk/r/Erato/2564619043

[ardcarp]

What an interestingly different choice for BaL. An amazing number of recordings available.

Yes there's a lot to sift through, but the work itself (a fantastic piece) is not too long and should lend itself well to the DON treatment...which I always enjoy hugely (probably for the wrong reasons).

[BBMmk2]

I be looking forward to this one. Quite unusual!

[verismissimo]

I be looking forward to this one. Quite unusual!

Yes! Think I've only ever had Debost with Fevrier

[verismissimo]

I recall with pleasure that the young Mark Baldwin used this sonata in the dance, Spirit, that he choreographed for Rambert in the early 90s.

[Black Swan]

I have a recording by Patric Gallois and Pascal Roge'. It is on a CD of Poulenc Chamber Music which also includes:
The Sextour for piano, flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon and horn.
Sonata for Clarinet and piano
Sonata for Flute and piano
Sonata for Oboe and piano
Trio for piano, oboe and bassoon.

This is a very good CD.

[A Robyn]

I have a recording by Patric Gallois and Pascal Roge'. It is on a CD of Poulenc Chamber Music which also includes:
The Sextour for piano, flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon and horn.
Sonata for Clarinet and piano
Sonata for Flute and piano
Sonata for Oboe and piano
Trio for piano, oboe and bassoon.

This is a very good CD.

That CD still seems to be available as part of this Decca box set: http://www.deccaclassics.com/gb/cat/4757097. As I've come to expect, the whole thing has been uploaded onto youtube and organised into a playlist, apparently with Universal Music's blessing: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?lis...M_zoRiT8rTNZce. The Flute Sonata can be found near the end: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LGi9...M_zoRiT8rTNZce. The acoustic was criticized for being too resonant when the recording came out, so perhaps it won't be in the running, but the performance seems very fine to me as well.

[A Robyn]

Wot, no Jimmy Galway?

Looks like he did the Orchestral arrangement with RPO Dutoit - I have a MD of it copied from Cassette - I guess it was on LP but may not have been CDd.

James Galway's recording of the orchestrated version seems to be available as a download and also on the 13th CD of his 71 disc Complete RCA Album Collection. (Needless to say, both options are on youtube: 1: the (remastered) original album: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YD_Q...iJBzh3&index=5, and 2: the complete box set (all 885 tracks of it! ): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YD_Q...-NYJh7T2tXe0qB.)