Alter Ego: Music for Flute and Piano by Respighi, Fauré & Franck

Featuring

Rebecca Taio
Marco Grisanti
Ottorino Respighi
Gabriel Fauré
César Franck

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Interpretation

Rebecca Taio, the flautist on this album, aimed for a more romantic and less delicate flute sound, inspired by the sustained phrases and intense vibrato of string instruments.

Composer's Artistic Vision

Ottorino Respighi, a key exponent of the 'generation of the 1880s', defined his style by balancing modernity with a pull towards the past, exploring various styles from salon music to neo-baroque.

Historical Context

Gabriel Fauré, whose Sonata in A major for violin and piano is featured, was a key player in the revival of French instrumental music, initiated in 1871 by the Société nationale de musique.

Composition History

Fauré dedicated his Sonata in A major for violin and piano Op.13 to Pauline Viardot, a leading singer and daughter of Manuel García, who was a queen of Parisian salons.

Composition History

The Five Pieces by Ottorino Respighi, a celebrated composer from Bologna, are presented here for the first time in transcriptions for flute and piano.

Interpretation

The flautist Rebecca Taio and pianist Marco Grisanti made further revisions to the Fauré and Franck sonatas to adhere as closely as possible to the original violin and piano versions.

Compositional Technique

César Franck's Sonata in A major for violin and piano, dedicated to Eugène Ysaÿe, is a masterpiece of 'Cartesian' clarity, pervaded by 'algorithmic poetry' and underpinned by a cyclical form.