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01/24/2015
“Music for Flute and Piano”
Ignaz Moscheles: Divertimento à la savoyarde in A major, Opus 78 – Sonate concertante in G major, Opus 79 – Quatre divertissements, Opus 82b – Six Variations concertantes in D minor, Opus 21 – Grande Sonate concertante in A major, Opus 44
Kazunori Seo (Flute), Makoto Ueno (Piano)
Recording: Grand Auditorium, Mie Centre for the Arts, Tsu, Mie Prefecture, Japan (June 11-13 & December 19-20, 2013) – 77’42
Naxos # 8.573175 – Booklet in English
 
Best known as a piano virtuoso, Ignaz Moscheles’ plethora of works all involved the keyboard in some way, shape or form. Even though he was drawn to Beethoven’s music (classified as “radical” at the time), his teacher, Dionys Weber, inculcated the child with the likes of Mozart, Clementi and Bach. As his proficiency continued to grow, he eventually became a teacher to many aspiring composers such as Sigismund Thalberg, Arthur Sullivan and Edvard Grieg. Moscheles also wrote numerous pieces for flute and piano, a fine sampling of concertantes and divertissements which are represented on this album.
Duo Kazunori Seo and Makoto Ueno tackle the complexities of Moscheles’ music with understated expression sans over embellishment. The Divertimento à la savoyarde in A major opens the CD with a rounded feel of politesse douce despite its gradient paces and rhythms. Kazunori Seo’s roulades are impeccable. In the Sonate concertante in G major we hear the marvelous dialogue between keyboard and woodwind with a particularly bright and flouncy Allegro con spirito. The ensuing Andantino, quasi Allegretto has Haydn reminisces while the duo’s Allegro vivace shines with limpid clarity.
Never does the pair get carried away with extravagances, as found in the “Marcia” from Moscheles’ Quatre divertissements. “Air de Haydn en fantaisie” demonstrates use of Seo’s and Ueno’s respectful tempo structuring; Kazunori Seo’s notes elicit pristine happiness in the “Air”, and extract from Joseph Weigl’s 1809 opera, Die Schweizerfamilie.
Anyone seeking music surrounding flute and piano, this will be a fine sample to collect. Kazunori Seo and Makoto Ueno excel in wonderful fashion.
Christie Grimstad
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