Emmanuel Pahud - Dalbavie, Jarrell & Pintshcer: Flute Concertos (2008)

Marc-André Dalbavie was a protégé of Pierre Boulez, but there is little evidence of his mentor's aesthetic in his Concerto for flute, except in the clarity and precision of its construction. It's a surprisingly lyrical work, full of elegant turns of phrase and impassioned melodies. Its harmonic language hovers between tonality and atonality, but its affect is largely post-Romantic; this is a work that offers strong and direct emotional appeal to audiences. Formally, it's fairly conventional, with fast-slow-fast movements that are played without a break, but its lyrical, sensuous slow section makes up about half of its length. Swiss composer Michael Jarrell's concerto ...un temps de silence... and German Matthias Pintscher's Transir operate in a similar sound world, but are overall a little more astringent, with a less broadly romantic effect. They are both full of intriguing orchestral sonorities, to which the flute contributes with a variety of extended techniques. Pintscher's concerto was written as a memorial to a fellow composer and is a more somber, contemplative and less flashily virtuosic work. It's hardly monochromatic in its moods, though, and piercingly explores the many emotions that can be triggered by loss. Flutist Emmanuel Pahud plays with complete conviction and intensity, and he's as effective in the warmly lyrical moments as in the sections that stretch the technical limits of the flute nearly to the breaking point. Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France is conducted by Peter Eötvös, Pascal Rophé, and Matthias Pintscher, respectively, in the three concertos. Their playing is impassioned and technically above reproach, and EMI's sound quality is clean and bright, allowing the composers' felicities of orchestration to be heard clearly.