Penderecki • Reinecke Flute Concertos Krzysztof Kaczka (flute); Janáček Philharmonic Ostrava/Felipe Tristan Hänssler HC23013 47:29 mins
Carl Reinecke’s Concerto Op. 283, written in 1908, two years before his death, doesn’t get this album off on the right foot. Soloistic displays? Minimal. Orchestral colours? Only the drab. Composer’s melodic gift? Moderate. There is nothing wrong with writing music in 1908 closer to Mendelssohn than Schoenberg; it’s the flat-footed quality that is worrying, something that Krzysztof Kaczka’s flair cannot hide.
Everything changes with Penderecki’s Concerto. By 1992, the Polish composer’s musical language had long ago pulled back from the sonic experimentations of the 1960s, though his playfulness and bright ear for colour never vanished, whatever the work’s tonal framework. Making the most of his chamber forces, Penderecki delights in making his soloist argue, converse and pleasurably entwine with trumpet, clarinet, timpanist, many others, in a glinting parade of fast-changing textures and colours. Kaczka is in his element here, with far more chances for virtuosic display; the Janáček Philharmonic and conductor Felipe Tristan, both at a low ebb in the Reinecke, also enjoy a new lease of life. The recording acoustic, as before, is rather close and fruity, but that shouldn’t stem enjoyment of the music making itself. Geoff Brown