Recordings of Lennox Berkeley's music
Great Works for Flute and Orchestra
Sharon Bezaly's latest disc includes two central works from the repertoire for flute and orchestra – the concertos by Carl Nielsen and Carl Reinecke – as well as less often heard gems, such as Cécile Chaminade's melodious Concertino and Charles T. Griffes’ Poem, with its distinctive harmonies and colourful writing. The programme also includes a true rarity in Tchaikovsky’s youthful Largo and Allegro for flute and strings, written while the composer was still a student at the St Petersburg Conservatory. Poulenc's Sonata is of course one of the most popular pieces in the flute repertoire of the 20th century, but it is here performed in an unusual version for flute and orchestra, orchestrated by Lennox Berkeley, a friend of Poulenc. Throughout this colourful and varied programme, Sharon Bezaly enjoys the sympathetic support of Neeme Järvi and the Residentie Orchestra who also join her in the spectacular encore, the Finnish composer Kalevi Aho’s virtuosic arrangement of Rimsky-Korsakov's The Flight of the Bumblebee. (Edited synopsis by BIS Records)
- Flute Sonata (op. 93 part 2, by Francis Poulenc, orchestrated by LB)
Performed by the Residentie Orkest Den Haag, Sharon Bezaly (flute) & Neeme Järvi (conductor)