Dreamtime Busoni: Divertimento, Op. 52; Mozart: Andante in C; Penderecki: Flute Concerto; Reinecke: Flute Concerto in D; Ballade, Op. 288; Takemitsu: I Hear the Water Dreaming Emmanuel Pahud (flute); Munich Radio Orchestra/Ivan Repušić Warner 9029539244 78:38 mins
Emmanuel Pahud consistently delivers high-quality recordings with a twist, from a collection of rarities by Carl and Franz Doppler (Farao) to his 2018 double-disc Solo (Warner) that layered Telemann fantasies with 20th- and 21st-century works. Dreamtime is similarly creative, programming a wide selection of concertos and concertante pieces themed around different experiences of that state.
Tōru Takemitsu’s I Hear the Water Dreaming has the most obvious links to the topic, having been inspired by the Australian Aboriginals’ concept of ancestral space, which has come to be referred to as ‘dreamtime’. Like Takemitsu’s Air, I Hear the Water Dreaming contains extended phrases; these are perfectly paced by Pahud. Here and elsewhere in the recording, the engineering achieves an awareness of the breath without marring the overall effect of the music. As is the idea behind Dreamtime, sometimes it is the ‘in between’ moments that are the most revealing.
Through seven movements, Penderecki’s Flute Concerto (1992) flutters and flies, moving through luxurious expansion (the Andante movements) to repeated quaver motifs (Allegro con brio) and a virtuosic display of jumping lines, bent notes and double tonguing (Poco meno mosso). The Munich Radio Orchestra handles the extremities in dynamics and textures well.
Reinecke’s Concerto (1908), first recorded in 1967, is a relative newcomer to the repertoire. Both this and his Ballade are neo-Romantic in style; the Concerto’s pastoral opening is almost filmic. Mozart’s Andante in C provides the perfect ramp to Busoni’s Divertimento.
Claire Jackson