ALC 0038 Debussy Bartók Nielsen Hindemith Enescu Taktakishvili

The flute is one of the most ancient musical instruments and therefore, in one or more of its many variants, it is found in virtually all cultures worldwide. Thus, it unifies the West and the East, the past and the present, the “classical” repertoire and the spontaneous, unwritten music-making of many cultures around the globe. It comes as no surprise, therefore, that many composers of the Classical tradition drew tunes, rhythms and modes from the folk and popular heritage of their countries when writing for the flute. The recital recorded in this album is highly characteristic of such tendencies in the twentieth-century repertoire. With the notable exceptions of Hindemith and Debussy, the other composers represented here belonged in musical traditions regarded as “peripheral” with respect to the mainstream Western tradition: such is the case of Enesco’s Romania, Bartók’s Hungary, Nielsen’s Denmark and Taktakishvili’s Georgia.