British Flute Concertos Emily Beinen & BBC National Orchestra of Wales; Bramwell Tovey

• 1Light - Tentative, getting faster and bolder05:06
• 2Expansive, rapturous - Gently (twice as fast) - With movement, but plaintive03:32
• 3Angry - Desolate - Gently moving02:32
• 4Slow - A little held back - Moving forward04:53
• 5Lively - Entranced03:23
• 6Allegro ritmico - Meno mosso - Più mosso (Tempo I) - Ancora più mosso04:54
• 7Allegretto scherzando - Tempo grazioso (quasi Tempo di valse) - Cadenza - Tempo I03:05
• 8Andante sostenuto e semplice - Pochissimo meno mosso - Tempo I - Meno mosso -05:50
• 9Allegro vivace - Cadenza - Tempo moderato (sempre con moto) - Allegro -06:05
• 10Allegro malincolico - Un peu plus vîte - Tempo I05:02
• 11Cantilena. Assez lent - Più vivo -04:11
• 12Presto giocoso - Subito più lento - Tempo I (Presto)03:59
• 13Allegro moderato - Cadenza - Andante - Un poco più lento07:30
• 14Presto02:56
• 15Adagio05:34
• 16Allegro vivace - Meno vivo - Tempo I - [Cadenza] - Presto08:49
• Total Runtime01:17:21

Info for British Flute Concertos

The Welsh flautist Emily Beynon plays a selection of British flute concertos, accompanied by the BBC National Orchestra of Wales and Bramwell Tovey. Beynon is the Principal Flute of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in Amsterdam. Equally at home in front of the orchestra as in its midst, she has also performed as soloist with, amongst others, several BBC Orchestras, the Philharmonia Orchestra, NHK Symphony, and the Vienna, Prague, Netherlands and English Chamber orchestras.

Sir Lennox Berkeley was one of the leading British composers of the mid-twentieth century, a Francophile who brought to his music clarity, economy, and elegance. His Flute Concerto, composed in 1952 and dedicated to John Francis, displays these qualities in abundance, as well as the lyricism which had become more prominent in his post-war works. It is scored for an orchestra of two oboes, two bassoons, two horns, timpani, and strings.

In 1976, Berkeley took on the difficult task of orchestrating the piano part of Poulenc’s Sonata for Flute and Piano. We know from a diary entry that Berkeley was expecting the task to prove difficult, and perhaps he made the task even more taxing by choosing not to include a harmonic instrument in his orchestral completion. In the end, though, his instruments of choice were used with great ingenuity. For example, in the opening, the piano part is transferred to interlocking clarinets and bassoons, and in the middle section, the greater weight of the piano is replaced first by strings, and then by the full orchestra.

Alwyn was seventy-five years old, and contemplating giving up composition, when he was approached by the English Chamber Orchestra Wind Ensemble to write a piece for it. The work, a Concerto for Flute and Winds, was completed in 1980. In 2006, at the request of the William Alwyn Foundation, John McCabe arranged it for flute and full orchestra, the version included on this album.

The Magic Flute Dances by Jonathan Dove is based loosely around the opera by Mozart, and was written in response to a commission from The Young Concert Artists Trust and Emily Beynon. The storyline is here explained by Dove: ‘What happens to the magic flute at the end of Mozart’s opera? Does Tamino give it back to the three ladies? Does it lie in a box, forgotten, at the back of a cupboard? Does it, perhaps, come out and dance, singing to itself about Tamino’s adventures? When Emily Beynon asked me for a concerto that had some connection with Mozart, I thought this could be an opportunity to let the flute out of its box.’

“... the real draw here is the astonishingly pure and effortless sonority Emily Benyon draws from her instrument... here all is fluid and beautifully balanced, with fine recorded sound and good accompaniments from Bramwell Tovey.” (Steven Kruger, Fanfare)

“... With virtuosity and rich feeling for the music’s changing colours, Emily Beynon makes a memorable soloist; and, with Bramwell Tovey’s excellent accompaniments, all these works spring readily to life in Chandos’s vividly realistic and splendidly balanced recording.' (Ivan March, Gramophone magazine)

Emily Beynon, flute
BBC National Orchestra of Wales
Bramwell Tovey, conductor

Recorded at BBC Hoddinott Hall, Cardiff Bay, Cardiff; 27–29 October 2011
Produced by Brian Pidgeon
Engineered by Ralph Couzens

No biography found.

Booklet for British Flute Concertos