Révélations: Music for Flute & Piano

Over a century of captivating French music for the flute, from Mélanie Bonis (1858-1937) to Élise Bertrand (b.2000), including a premiere on disc.

Composer: André Jolivet, Lili Boulanger, Mélani Hélène Bonis, Pierre Emile Léon Camus, Pierre Sancan, Élise Bertrand
Artists: Anna Wierer flute, Alina Pronina piano

From the shepherds-pipe dances of Lully to the pan-flute of Debussy’s faun and beyond, French music has always had a special affinity with the flute. Anna Wierer explores some lesser-known byways of this rich repertoire with her new album, which promises ‘Révélations’ galore. She begins with Lili Boulanger’s evocation of a spring morning, as full of new life as a field of young lambs. Among her contemporaries was Pierre Camus, a student of Fauré: his Chanson et Badinerie presents a pair of contrasting miniatures characteristic of late French Romanticism: the first melancholic and songful, the second lively and of sweeping lightness.

The most extended work here is the four-movement Sonata by Mélanie Bonis, known in her time as the androgynous Mel so that her music would not be judged as inferior to a man’s: and indeed the sumptuous modal-oriental harmonies and idiomatic writing for both instruments place it in the front rank of French flute sonatas. A century on, Bonis’s music has belatedly won a place in the modern repertoire – by contrast, Élise Bertrand is at the beginning of a promising career. She composed her Impressions Liturgiques Op.2 at the age of 15, inspired by Maurice Duruflé's Requiem.

Dating from 1946, Pierre Sancan’s Sonatine floats in on the breeze as a piece of postwar escapism, as light and sensuous as the creation of a master patissier. Finally, Anna Wierer and Alina Pronina turn to the more complex world of André Jolivet, whose Chant de Linos (1944) shares a theme of antiquity with Debussy’s Prelude but explores a darker, more troubled landscape over the course of its ten eventful minutes.

This is the second Brilliant Classics album from the well-established duo of Anna Wierer and Alina Pronina, following on the success of their debut release in 2021, of flute music by the Ukrainian composer Dmitri Tchesnokov. Anna Wierer is the director of the BellClassic Music Academy and the Klangfabrik Music School in Berlin: Kyiv-born Alina Pronina likewise has settled in Berlin, but the duo has given concerts together across Germany and farther afield.

- Lili Boulanger (1893-1918) was the first woman to win the coveted Grand Prix de Rome in the competition's 110-year history in 1913. Her work D'un matin de printemps, completed shortly before her death at the age of 24, exudes youthful freshness and joie de vivre through rhythms and dissonances.

Tracklist:

Lili Boulanger:
00:00 D’un matin de printemps
Pierre Camus:
04:44 Chanson
07:47 Badinerie
Mel Bonis:
Sonate pour flûte et piano:
10:35 I. Andantino con moto
15:19 II. Scherzo-Vivace
17:19 III. Adagio-Allegro ma non troppo-Adagio
22:21 IV. Finale-Moderato
Élise Bertrand:
Impressions liturgiques, Op. 2 :
26:30 I. Introït
27:58 II. Lux aeterna
31:01III. Supplicatio
32:35 IV. In paradisum
Pierre Sancan:
Sonatine:
34:51 I. Moderato
38:41 II. Andante espressivo
42:09 III. Animé
André Jolivet:
44:21 Chant de linos

👉 Social media links:

Spotify Playlists:

#Classicalmusic #Classical #BrilliantClassics #Révélations #piano

[MJSpangle]

This is a compilation of some incredibly beautiful music, played by two truly accomplished musicians. The title of your page is truly evident here, in that the music is not only Classic, but brilliantly so.

[jcklazur]

Qualité et beauté, musique inspirante, aérienne, légère, apaisante autant que dynamique. Très belle photo également... Merci ... très salvateur dans ce monde chaotique. Jackie

[bach]

감사합니다😄😄😄
This is not spamming commants.
This is how I express gratitude(To dark stuff).

[pianojungwu]

00:12:07~00:15:20
No sound. Please check.

[RONIN]

The sound dropped out at the 13 minute mark.