Hidden treasures - Charles Gounod - Concertino for Flute & Chamber Orchestra (?)

Описание: Painting: "The dance of the battery in the presence of Peter Stuyvesant" by Asher Brown Durand.

History (based on materials from the Grove Dictionary of Music): In comparison with the his vast theatrical and sacred compositions, Gounod's contributions to "absolute" music are much rarer and, thus, easily traceable. Two symphonies, three string quartets, some piano pieces and a few other works are practically the sole independent instrumental pieces that Gounod wrote during his lifetime. One of the composer's orchestral works - a flute concertino which was recently discovered in the library of the Foundation for the Promotion of Musical Culture in Stockholm - is presented in this case, allowing us to briefly judge Gounod's skills as a composer of pure music. On a side note, one can also note that the piece in question, perhaps, perfectly represents the ideals of Gounod as a composer: a work of the artist stands or falls on its own merits as a representation of reality, but a representation that was necessarily beautiful and fertilized by intuitions about the ideal. It was exactly this concept of music, not to mention the composer's refusal to pursue the implications of Wagner's musical style, that put Gounod at loggerheads with Wagnerian writers and critics at the end of his life.

Music: The concertino is a rather light-hearted affair, to say the least, and its highly traditional musical language wouldn't be out of place in the works of Boieldieu or Rossini, though the melodramatic character of the opening bars is vintage Gounod. On paper, the piece is divided into three parts which are, however, tightly interwoven, thus, they sound as one complete piece, rather than three independent sections. This notion is only reinforced by the fact that the concertino is literally short, lasting no more than five minutes, though even in such a short time Gounod manages to compose music of great vivacity. The piece opens in a slightly subdued manner, with strings playing sustained lines over which the flute engages in some relaxed ornamental passages, separated by a cameo appearance of the oboe. The introduction is close in style to a Swiss ranz des vaches (Rossini's more elaborate third section of the "Guillaume Tell" overture features many similar gestures). After a charmingly excited cadenza, an extremely attractive flute melody over a "dancing" string bass line begins (the warmth of the latter reminds me somehow of Boccherini's delightful rhythms), slowly growing in orchestral complexity and ornamental brilliance, with string crescendos, sustained wind lines, elements of the variation form (the principal theme is repeated several times with little melodic elaborations), the oboe's appearance as an echo of the flute in the final moments of the section and an extensive amount of garnishes for the flute dominating the proceedings, as the musical material is gradually developed. A prolonged coda forms the closing of the piece, with the flute floating through numerous florid passages (trills, as well as some graceful turns and leaps). The image behind the piece is easily discernible as a scene of a rustic dance (David Hurwitz from "Classicstoday.com" goes as far as to suggest that "the unforgettable principal theme wouldn't have been out of place representing the Hobbits in the recent "Lord of the Rings" films"), indeed, it is Gounod's effective handling of the material that makes the listener forget that the concerto is basically built on the foundation of rather commonplace stock gestures which, however, as the composer proves, can be used effectively to create a piece of the utmost warmth and elegance.

Recording: The 2002 Bis recording of various French flute concertos is a program of great charm which is only highlighted by the extreme talent of the players: Sharon Bezaly (flute), the Tapiola Sinfonietta and Jean-Jacques Kantorow (conductor).

Hope you'll enjoy :).