It's not everyone's first choice, by any means, but I can still identify with no trouble at all the time and place when I fell in love with the sound of the flute. It was when I was in Grade 10, at a Toronto Symphony Young People's concert, and the work was Mozart's beguiling Concerto for Flute and Harp. Instantly, I was hooked -- by the lovely combination of instruments but also, as proven in the long run, by both instruments individually.
Since then, I've amassed a fair number of recordings featuring the flute, and have enjoyed them all. And now, I want to introduce you to my latest acquisition for this instrument.
The composer is Saverio Mercadante, an Italian composer who lived from 1795 to 1870. His creative life thus overlaps those of Beethoven, Rossini, and Schubert at the one end, and Brahms, Verdi, and Puccini at the other end.
I put his dates in reference to Rossini, Verdi, and Puccini because he was mostly famed as a composer of operas. Indeed, many of his operas were highly successful in their day, and some scholars find it surprising that his works haven't held the stage like those of the three Italian titans I've named.
But Mercadante was much more. Alone among the Italian composers mentioned, he created many orchestral works as well as paying much more attention to the orchestration of his stage works. The recording I have at hand is a collection of three flute concertos, played by soloist Patrick Gallois.
The music is generally reminiscent of the late Mozart, or of the earlier works of Beethoven and Schubert. Mercadante has not yet dived into the wholesale harmonic or structural experimentation of the height of the Romantic era. Within its own terms, though, his music has some highly original effects and sounds.
Take for example the finale of the Concerto No 1. It's a moderate tempo but sprightly and upbeat two-step. The um-pah accompanying figures could easily become tedious but Mercadante insures against that kind of monotony by varying the instrumentation of the accompaniment each time the theme recurs -- mixes of strings with different combinations of wind instruments successfully keep boredom at bay.
As you would expect of concerto forms, the first movements offer the most symphonic style and sound. Last movements then give us most of the complex virtuoso writing for the flute solo, while the central slow movements tend more towards simple lyricism. Mercadante sensibly keeps his touch light with the orchestra so the flautist won't get drowned out!
Great music this perhaps is not, but it makes for delightful listening if you love the sound of the flute as much as I do!
