Désirée Del Santo - Échos du temps - Voyage à travers la musique française du 20e siècle pour Flûte et Harpe (2024)

Late 19th and first half of the 20th century French music production is characterized by a taste for sophisticated melodies, refined and unusual timbral mixtures. The influence of composers such as Debussy and Ravel is deep and widespread, but the more avant-garde experimentation, as to be found in the rarefied atmospheres and rhythmic fluidity of musique d’ameublement, is also an undeniable element in the fin de siècle French soundscape.
In this context, the flute and harp duo plays a significant and prominent role. The timbral blend, already popular among post-Mozartian German composers at the turn of the 19th century, owes its best literature precisely to the late 19th-century French composers, who captured its potential (aprés Debussy).
A booster to the flute’s potential were the technological innovations made by Theobald Böhm (1794 – 1881), flutist and inventor, son of a Bavarian goldsmith. More appreciated in France than in his homeland, Böhm’s flute paved the way for a true “flute revolution,” led by the genius of great teachers and musicians, including Paul Taffanel (1844 – 1908), who succeded to Henri Altès (1826 -1895) in the chair of flute at the Paris Conservatory in 1893. Through his method and performance style, Taffanel greatly contributed to the improvement of the flute’s tonal and interpretive abilities and raised a new generation of flute-soloists. Under his far-sighted leadership and that of other great teachers, such as Philippe Gaubert (1879 – 1941) and Marcel Moyse (1889-1984), the French flute school made extensive progress in the emission technique, giving the instrument – hitherto limited by faint timbre, inconsistency among registers and inaccurate intonation – new sonority, power and expressiveness. These characteristics, which won the flute vast popularity, are perfectly depicted in theis repertoire.