Weber, C.M. Von: Flute Trio, Op. 63 / Ries, F.: Flute Sonata

Friedrich Kuhlau's legacy in his lifetime was as a significant composer of music for the flute, the favored instrument of gentlemen amateurs in the early nineteenth century. In his unfinished biography of 1804-1805, the great German Romantic Jean Paul wrote that the flute was a "magic baton, which changes one's internal world, when it is touched by it; it is a divining rod plumbing the depths of the soul." Kuhlau is best known for the masterpieces which are the Grand Sonata for Pianoforte and Flute Obbligato, Op. 71 & Op. 83. The great composer Johannes Brahms was so impressed with the sonatas that he wrote to Clara Schumann in 1854 expressing a wish to learn the flute solely so he could perform Kuhlau's works along with Clara at the piano. These are interpreted with flair and brio by flautist Mika Putterman, known for her beautiful sound and expressive playing, and Erin Helyard, virtuoso of he harpsichord and fortepiano.

KUHLAU: Piano Quartets Nos. 1 and 2

Kuhlau, as a successful pianist and teacher, wrote a quantity of music for the piano, although his second piano concerto was destroyed in the fire of 1831. These compositions included salon music and pieces of varied technical difficulty that were of practical use in teaching. In addition to his stage works, which enjoyed variable success, he left songs and chamber music, with a particular emphasis on compositions for the flute, an instrument that it seems that he did not play himself, profiting, however, from the technical advice of a flautist in the theatre orchestra. His first attempts at writing for the flute had been in Hamburg, but it was in the 1820s that he embarked on a series of works, including the three Sonatas for flute and piano, Opus 83, published in Bonn in 1827, that earned for him the title of 'the Beethoven of the flute'. The Sonata in G major, Opus 83, No.1, touches on G minor almost at once and continues in a form that suggests the classical inheritance that he enjoyed, as a near contemporary of Weber, from the world of Mozart and of Beethoven. The minor-key slow movement brings variations on a Swedish song, Sorgens magt (Sorrow's Might), although melancholy is dissipated in passing, before the final return of the theme. The sonata ends with a movement in which flute and piano set out to match each other in brilliance, their course interrupted by a passage marked Andante sostenuto, brought to an end by a piano cadenza. The second of the set, the Sonata in C major, Opus 83, No.2, has further suggestions of Beethoven. The first movement has a dramatic slow introduction in C minor, before the piano launches into a C major Allegro, soon to be joined by the flute, in thematic material foreshadowed in the introduction. The E major Larghetto starts with the singing tone of the piano, soon joined by the flute. The last movement opens with a principal theme that, as so often, touches briefly on the minor, a rondo that offers both instruments a chance of display in a movement that brings episodes of distinct contrast. The set ends with the Sonata in G minor, Opus 83, No.3. It is introduced by the piano, soon joined by the flute, in a movement that has the element of drama suggested by the choice of key. The hymn-like lyricism of the slow movement is varied as the movement proceeds, before the initial serenity is restored. The sonata ends with a Rondo alla polacca, in which an opportunity is again offered for concluding brilliance in the writing for both instruments.

The album “In einer Zauberstunde” (In a Magic Hour) by the Australian-born flutist Xavier Luck and his compatriot Daniel Linton-France focuses on works for flute and piano that have been inspired by Lied or opera. The center piece is the Introduction and Variations on “Trockne Blumen” from Die schöne Müllerin, D 802, by Franz Schubert. This is contrasted by the Introduction and Variations on a theme from Carl Maria von Weber’s “Euryanthe” for Flute and Piano, Op. 63 by Friedrich Kuhlau, which was composed in the same year.

A contemporary take on this subject are the Fantasy on a theme by Franz Schubert (“Du bist die Ruh’”) and the eponymous “In einer Zauberstunde” by Daniel Linton-France, which are presented as world premiere recordings. The latter work was prompted by Xavier Luck and is a virtuoso work which picks up various themes and motifs from W.A. Mozarts “Zauberflöte”, from which the titel is derived. As concluding piece we find another Lied by Schubert, “Des Baches Wiegenlied”, once again from his song cycle Die schöne Müllerin, in an arrangement for flute and piano by Anton Diabelli.

Some delightful piano works in the spirit of Haydn and Mozart.

This release marks another disc in the lengthening series of Kuhlau’s compositions on Naxos.

Kuhlau, born in 1786 to a musician with the German Army, began his musical education in Lüneburg with piano, and also began to compose at that time. Around 1800 he studied with C. F. G. Schwenke, the man who succeeded C. P. E. Bach in the position as Hamburg Stadtkantor. By 1804, Kuhlau was in the process of launching his career as a pianist in earnest. Blind in one eye since childhood, Kuhlau fled to Copenhagen under an alias to avoid mandatory military service; his half-blindness evidently did not compel the authorities to exempt him. He eventually became a naturalised citizen of Denmark and established his base there for the rest of his life.

Known to this reviewer primarily for his compositions for flute — various discs have been released recently of his flute sonatas and trios on Naxos and other labels. Kuhlau also produced a number of other pieces, primarily for chamber ensembles.

The works on offer on the present disc are short and charming, with most movements lasting no longer than three minutes. Jandó does right, I think, in keeping the performances simple and straightforward. The object of these pieces is not to impress or give a listener a good deal of food for thought. These are meant primarily to entertain. They are likely to be familiar to piano students worldwide. There isn’t much here that would surprise the listener, but there are a few moments of particular interest, such as the unexpected similarity of the opening movement of the Sonatina in A minor, Op. 88 No. 3 to Beethoven’s 1810 Für Elise. Another standout is the opening Allegro maestoso of the Op. 55 No. 6 Sonatina in C which, with its length of just over seven minutes, allows for a bit more mulling over of its thematic material.

The recording aesthetic for this disc is just what one would expect from Naxos: warm ambience without losing presence or definition. Jandó gives these pieces a clean and clear performance. Quite a pleasant disc for casual listening.

-- David Blomenberg, MusicWeb International

KUHLAU Piano Sonatas, op. 59: in A; in F; in C. Sonatinas, op. 20: in C; in G; in F • Jen? Jandó (pn) • NAXOS 8.570709 (59:07)


Ill-fated Friedrich Kuhlau (1786–1832) suffered a number of life’s mishaps. The first, at age seven, was the loss of his right eye in a street accident. The second, many years later, was the loss of all his unpublished manuscripts in a fire that burned his house to the ground. But perhaps the greatest misfortune of all to befall him was Beethoven, or, more specifically, to have been born and lived in Beethoven’s shadow. Born in Germany, Kuhlau fled to Copenhagen in 1810 to avoid conscription in the Napoleonic Army. What? No 4-F exemptions for one-eyed musicians? He remained in Denmark for the rest of his life, never gaining much traction as a composer except for his Danish opera, Elverhøj ( Elf Mound ). He did, however, achieve some recognition as a concert pianist; as a great admirer of Beethoven, Kuhlau introduced a number of Beethoven’s works to Copenhagen audiences. Of Kuhlau’s manuscripts that escaped the flames and made it to publication, there are approximately 200, consisting mainly of chamber works, solo piano pieces, and enough pieces for flute to have earned him the nickname “the Beethoven of the flute.”


Kuhlau is said to have been most heavily influenced by Beethoven, and as one listens to these sonatas and sonatinas, it’s clear that he had at least the more superficial aspects of Beethoven’s early style down pat. I’m speaking here of the keyboard figurations, the harmonic progressions, and the gestural articulation. A perfect example is the Adagio e sostenuto movement of the G-Major Sonatina, op. 20/2. But here the comparison ends. Kuhlau is but a dinghy caught in the wake of an aircraft carrier. Had he lived 25 years earlier, these mostly slight works might have been seen as a significant advance in keyboard style, but he didn’t; and this is what I meant above when I said that Kuhlau’s greatest misfortune was to have been born and lived in the shadow of Beethoven. Consider that the op. 20 sonatinas on this disc are dated 1820; the op. 59 sonatas, 1824. By this late date, Beethoven was done with the piano sonata as a vehicle for expressing his musical ideas. The “Hammerklavier” and the three last sonatas were behind him.


The taxonomic division of the works on this disc into sonatas and sonatinas is a bit of a puzzler. Keith Anderson’s booklet note homes in on this very point, informing us that the three op. 59 works are often published as sonatinas rather than sonatas. The crux of the matter is that in musical lexicography a sonatina refers either to a small-scaled, modest sonata or, more properly, to a sonata-allegro movement without a development section. The op. 59 set on the disc does feature the requisite first-movement development sections to qualify as sonatas, but oddly, they are all relatively brief works and in only two movements. The op. 20 set, though called “sonatinas,” are all more extended three-movement works and, at least in one case—the F-Major—there is a short development section.


It is likely that most, if not all, of these pieces were written for students, as Kuhlau earned no small amount of his income teaching and publishing just such sonatas and sonatinas intended for young fingers. In a 2006 New York Times article I came across on the Internet (http: //www.nytimes.com/2006/07/02/arts/music/02holl.html), Bernard Holland acknowledges that “none of these sonatinas prepare the student for Beethoven at his most ornery,” and asks “Why play Kuhlau in the first place?” He answers his own question thus: “It is easy to dismiss this annoyingly perfect music as a product of mindless rote or a series of bad habits having outlived their time. But the sonatinas have their uses.” What they are, according to Holland, strike me as a bit misguided. “Really interesting composers like Haydn and Beethoven” he continues ( leaving Mozart and Schubert out of the equation —my italics), “violated the unwritten road maps with glee; but fully to understand the originality of the violators, it is nice to have a Kuhlau or a Muzio Clementi to show you just what is being violated.” Apart from the fact that the road maps of harmonic progression and sonata form were hardly unwritten by the late 18th century, what Holland seems to be saying is that Kuhlau’s only purpose is to provide us with a sextant by which to measure the degrees of deviation from true north practiced by the “really interesting composers.”


I have a rather different take on it. In the grander scheme of things, which we cannot know, it may be that neither Kuhlau nor any of the “really interesting composers” has any purpose at all, other than to afford us some pleasure and comfort while we wait to shuck off this mortal coil. Kuhlau is never less than harmonious, pleasing to the ear, attractive, and entertaining. As music, it’s a vacant sand lot, but one I’d rather trudge through than the barren dunes of some of what passes for music today.


Jen? Jandó is one of Naxos’s “house” pianists. He plays everything they throw at him smartly and stylishly. These pieces, of course, make no technical demands that a polished professional such as Jandó isn’t up to. The recording was made in 2007 with Jandó playing a modern grand piano. While recordings of Kuhlau’s keyboard works abound, the current CD appears to be the only one currently available containing these specific opus numbers. Buy, enjoy, and be happy.

FANFARE: Jerry Dubins

Friederich Kuhlau was among the most important early Romantic composers in Denmark, becoming known as the ‘Danish Beethoven’ for his popular works for flute. The etude-like Piano Sonata, Op. 127 reveals a deep expressiveness reminiscent of Chopin’s studies, while the sophisticated Piano Sonata, Op. 8a shows Kuhlau’s contemplative, darker side before closing with typical virtuoso esprit. The charm and elegance of the Sonatina, Op. 21 No. 1 has delighted piano students for generations. Jens Luhr was born in the same town as Friedrich Kuhlau, Uelzen, in northern Germany. There at the local music school, Luhr played- along with many other young piano students- the Kuhlau Sonatinas. He went on to study at the prestigious conservatories of music in Hannover, Wurzburg, Basle, and Leipzig. Luhr is known as a soloist and chamber musician, as well as being an interpreter of contemporary music, playing or taking part in several premieres. In 2012 and 2014 he won second prize at the International Music Competition of France in the highest category for pianists.

Friedrich Kuhlau Was the Most Cosmopolitan Personality in Danish Music at the Beginning of the 19th Century. A Creative, Forward-Looking and Extremely Productive Composer, He Rarely Let His Pen Lie Idle. The Two Piano Quartets Recorded on This CD By the Young Copenhagen Piano Quartet Are Major Works from the Composer's Most Artistically Fertile Decade, Besides Testifying to Kuhlau's Own Brilliance As a Pianist.

Do try the disc, you will hear some charming music and some superb flute playing.

Kuhlau is a composer whose name you might have heard, or whose music you might just have come across in one of those albums of teaching pieces. He came from a musical family in Germany, son and grandson of town and regimental musicians. He studied in Hamburg with a pupil of C.P.E. Bach.

In 1804, still in Hamburg, he started his career as a pianist. But in 1810 the city was invaded by Napoleon and Kuhlau avoided military service only because he was blind in one eye - the result of a childhood accident.

He fled to Copenhagen where he attempted to establish himself as a pianist and composer making his first appearance as a pianist at court in 1811. Naturalised in 1813, he received a court appointment, but this remained largely unpaid. He had some success with his singspiel Robber's Castle and made a name for himself as a pianist throughout Scandinavia. Joined in Scandinavia by his parents and sisters who were financially dependent on him; despite his successes, his life seems to have remained something of a financial struggle.

He visited Berlin, Leipzig and Vienna on occasions. In 1825 he managed to spend the evening with Beethoven and friends though the alcoholic haze meant that he had no strong recollections of this meeting.

In 1830 his parents died. The year after there was a serious fire at his house near Copenhagen and a large number of his unpublished compositions were destroyed. This seems to have had a deleterious effect on his health and he died in 1832.

His surviving body of music includes quite a bit of chamber music for flute; his Sonatas for Flute and Piano published in 1827, earned him the nickname 'the Beethoven of the Flute'. Kuhlau did not play the flute, but benefited from the advice of a flautist in the Copenhagen theatre orchestra. His flute pieces include duos, trios and quartets for unaccompanied flutes.

On this disc the European Flute Trio play five of Kuhlau's flute trios. The Grand Trio in B minor, op. 90 was published in 1828 and is the most virtuosic of all the pieces on the disc. The three trios op. 13, were published in 1815, and the Trio in E minor, op. 86 no. 1 was published in 1827.

Kuhlau wrote quite a bit of salon music and the salon is never very far away in these piece, no matter how classically and seriously they are constructed. The Grand Trio has a strong whiff of the virtuoso salon showpiece which was popular in the 19th century. The remaining trios are charming works, quite substantial in length. They were probably written for talented amateurs to play rather than as concert works.

The European Flute Trio (Antonio De Matola, Maxence Larrieu and Carlo de Matola) play these pieces as if to the manner born. They have no trouble at all with the virtuoso elements required and produce cascades of beautiful, liquid sounds. The three players balance nicely and create a good feeling of ensemble whilst remaining three distinct voices. Both De Matolas were pupils of Maxence Larrieu, which probably helps with the group's cohesion.

There were occasions when I thought that the recording was a little too close: we can hear slightly too much detail in the breath and beating in the flute tone. But this is a small point and does not prevent enjoyment.

Frankly, I was rather surprised at how much I enjoyed this disc. A whole CD of music for three unaccompanied flutes could be a little daunting. But Kuhlau's music has charm, lightness and strength of construction and this is brought out in these performances.

Do try the disc, you will hear some charming music and some superb flute playing.

-- Robert Hugill, MusicWeb International

Known to his contemporaries as "the Beethoven of the flute", Friedrich Kuhlau took much inspiration from the master of Bonn, who was a major influence on his work. The two even met in Vienna in 1825, an encounter which was a resounding success and during which they improvised canons. Kuhlau's output for the flute comprises over 60 works -- an impressive total for a composer who was not a flautist himself. His friend and colleague Bruun was a great help in this respect, being the essential first pair of eyes on all of Kuhlau's compositions for the instrument.

The unusual scoring of the flute quintets -- using flute, violin, two violas and a cello -- gives a great richness to the sound, due to the presence of the three lower-register instruments. The flute essentially takes the role of first violin rather than soloist, becoming an integral part of the structure and development of each of these elegant works. Flautist Ginevra Petrucci joins the internationally acclaimed Kodály Quartet for the recording.

Other information:
Recorded 27--29 December 2012, The Phoenix Studio, Budapest.
- Three delightful Flute Quintets by Friedrich Kuhlau, the "Beethoven of the flute", as his contemporaries called him.
- In 1828 Kuhlau met the great Beethoven, his lifelong inspiration and example. Though no composer can even think of imitating such a musical giant, Kuhlau's works contain certain Beethovenian features, such as structural strength, motivic development and a true expression of feeling.
- Excellent performances by Italian star flutist Ginevra Petrucci, and the internationally acclaimed Kodály Quartet.
- Contains liner notes on the works and performer biographies.

The German composer Friedrich Kuhlau (1786-1832) fled to Denmark as a young man and with his strong cosmopolitan personality became a loner – and at the same time a key figure – in the Danish Golden Age. Kuhlau championed new tones in Danish music, and his melodically appealing violin sonatas were the first Danish sonatas in the Romantic style. With this recording Duo Åstrand/Salo lends new luster to music that has only rarely been performed in our time.

Duo Åstrand/Salo follow up their first installment of sonatas by Friedrich Kuhlau with a selection of some of the composer’s most impressive works for violin and piano. Friedrich Kuhlau fled to Denmark as a young man and with his strong cosmopolitan personality became a loner- and at the same time a key figure- in the Danish Golden Age. In 1813 Kuhlau was granted Danish citizenship and the honorary title of Royal Court Musician. Included on this release is what some consider the first Danish violin sonata in the Romantic style, a work that glances towards the composer’s idol Beethoven but contains plenty of individual spice and allure. It is followed by sonatas in all but name, the Trois Duos brillants from late in Kuhlau’s career. They are brilliant, as the title suggests – three varied, evocative snapshots of the great cosmopolitan of Denmark’s Golden Age.

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REVIEW:

Kuhlau’s music sounds thoroughly Germanic, and he makes no attempt to develop a Danish national style. He is definitely one of the best composers of his era, though; and it wouldn’t be until Schumann in the early 1850s that anyone would write better for violin and piano.

– American Record Guide

Friedrich Kuhlau (1786 - 1832) lived and worked during a transitional period of classical music. A contemporary of Beethoven and Schubert, his works remain almost unknown to this day, except for some compositions for the flute. The compositional style of the sonatas featured in this recording perfectly identifies with that of his contemporaries, while showing some differences in content; the structure of the sonatas is that of the classical period, but the use of melodic themes and harmony looks to the romantic period. These interpretations of the sonatas for flute and piano highlight the constant dialogue between the two instruments; in fact there is a continuous thematic exchange, which the artists found interesting to discover and highlight. The synergy is perceived above all in choppy tempos, while in every Adagio or Andante the flute assumes the role of the solo instrument, and the piano accompanies and responds. The themes in the slow movements are sweet and moving, and the composer manages to evoke emotions that are always different from each other, thus bringing out his predisposition for this type of tempo, present even in the most brilliant movements: in fact in every allegro, even in the one characterized by the greatest energy, there is a moment of tranquility in which the composer takes the time to make performers and listeners ponder.

Born in Hamburg in 1786, the son of a military bandsman, Friedrich Kuhlau showed early musical promise and took lessons with a student of CPE Bach. When Napoleon’s troops invaded Hamburg in 1810, the 24-year-old Kuhlau fled with his family to Copenhagen, and there he made his name as a pianist and composer to the royal court. Taking Danish citizenship in 1813, he worked in the vanguard of the country’s fast-moving cultural scene, enjoying huge success as a composer of operas and incidental music. Kuhlau was himself a flautist of modest accomplishment, but the popularity of salon culture in Denmark increased the demand for flute and piano music - which were both fashionable at the time - to such an extent that Kuhlau complained, in a letter to his publisher in 1829, about having too many commissions. While a flautist of modest accomplishment himself, Kuhlau wrote with unfailing craft, sympathy and imagination for the instrument and before their publication he submitted his new works for approval from the principal flautist of the Court Chapel’s orchestra. The seven trios recorded here display a surprising variety of texture and mood. Even the trio of Op.13 works from 1815 ranges from the Baroque manners of No.3’s Adagio to a much grander scale of expression in the slow introduction which opens the curtain on No.1 and on the set as a whole. There is a dashing, Mendelssohnian quality to both the melodies and the sunny disposition of the Op.86 set from 1827 which itself is set aside for a more intense, Beethovenian argument in the grand trio Op.90. In 2015 three Asian flautists founded the Flute East Trio at the Hanns Eisler Academy of Music in Berlin.