Fluttering music

by Petar PLAMENOV

24 March (Thursday), 2011 
Baroque Flute Masterpieces
Sofia City Art Gallery, 19:00,
Entrance: 2 BGN
Address:
Sofia, 1 Gurko Str.
Working time: 10:00–19:00, Sunday 11:00–18:00;
Phone: 02 981 26 06
Cast: Apo Hakkinen (harpsichord), Yasu Moisio (baroque oboe), Dimitar Marinkev (traverse flute)
Program: G.F. Handel, M. Blave, G.F. Telemann

The term "Baroque" originally referred to an impure pearl, a slightly deformed pearl - Baroque art deals with imperfection, with mortality and vanity, with nature, Antique and Christian religion and with the contrasts between beauty and ugliness. It refers to an era in the 17th and 18th century, a time dominated by new scientific insights, discoveries in foreign countries, religious wars and a strong culture in celebrating and showing off wealth - at least as far as it concerns nobility and clergy.

We live in a wonderfully broadminded age where cultural diversity has never been wider - a flute recital these days might contain anything from baroque to beat boxing, and exciting departures in new techniques means the flute is finding new voices. However, we can still cherish our rich heritage.
The first half of the eighteenth century saw an explosion of interest in the newly developed one-keyed flute throughout Europe, but especially in France and Germany, and there followed a blossoming of newly composed pieces, including some of the greatest masterpieces in the flute’s repertoire.




A revolution in flute making took place in the second half of the 17th century. The instrument emerged as the 'baroque flute' with significant modifications including a conical bore, the addition of a key for the right hand little finger, and a more ornate body made in several pieces. It was now fully chromatic (in large part because of the key), but more significantly, it was better suited tonally for a role as a soloist. The bore change made a big difference in sound—improving the intonation and increasing the volume in the lowest notes, in particular—and incidently allowed the finger holes to be placed higher on the tube, making it slightly easier to handle with small hands than a renaissance flute at the same pitch.

The flute in its new form became popular first in France, where it was well suited for the refined gestures and elegant ornaments of the French baroque style. The early, wide bore French instruments are best played in a significantly lower tessitura than renaissance flutes. They have beautifully expressive and mellow low octaves, and second octaves whose tone, while sweet, can be more penetrating (more soloistic) than that of the renaissance flute.

The French repertoire is extensive.Blavet and Leclair are perhaps most straightforward. Leclair’s sonatas were written for the violin but specify flute as an alternative instrument, almost certainly with Blavet in mind. Couperin performed his marvellous Concerts Royaux on Sunday afternoons in 1715 for King Louis XIV. The Telemann Paris Quartets also have an interesting history. A set of Telemann’s quartets had been pirated and published in Paris, so Telemann decided to travel there and publish six more. Whilst there, he performed them with Blavet on the flute, violinist Guignon, gamba player Forqueray and cellist Edouard with himself at the harpsichord. The string bass players apparently took it in turns to play solo or continuo. All these quartets are wonderfully rich in texture and highly inventive, with a real French flavour. The E minor is a masterpiece, concluding with a wild Distrait movement and a deeply moving passacaglia.
 

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