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Coming soon! Excerpts from the Nov. 4th recital!

An excerpt from Nurit Barlev's Eastern Fantasy for flute and piano

fd_eastern.mp3 | 1.3MB

Performers: Leslie Zieren, flute and Nurit Barlev, piano

Ms. Barlev is a talented Bay Area composer and pianist with whom I had the incredible privilege of partnering with on this piece. I can't tell you how exciting it was to work with a real, living, breathing composer! I loved this piece the first time I heard it. Using the entire range of the flute, it weaves together Middle Eastern and Western melodic, harmonic, and rhythmic elements in motifs that express great sorrow, then joy, then sorrow -- over and over again--capturing and reflecting the inevitable fluctuation of these core emotions we all intimately know.

A recital excerpt from Dutilleux's Sonatine

fd_sonatine_excerpt.mp3 | 2.1MB

Performers: Leslie Zieren, flute and John Randall Hawkins, piano

Henri Dutilleux's Sonatine was written in 1943 for the end-of-the-year exams at the Paris Conservatory. His early works, like this piece, were influenced by the music of Bartok, Stravinsky, Debussy and Ravel.

Dutilleux is now 91 years old and still creating. He is expected to release a new chamber music composition written for soprano Renee Fleming to be premiered in September 2007.

Sonatine is written without separate movements. Dutilleux has been quoted as saying that he dislikes breaks between movements because "it spoils the music's power to enchant us."

A recital excerpt from Adolphe Adam's Ah! Vous dirai-je, maman

fd_adolphe_excerpt2.mp3 | 748kB

Performers: Melanie Purdy, soprano, Leslie Zieren, flute, and Paul Rosas, piano

Adolphe Adam is a French composer whose music for the ballet Giselle makes him a popular composer even today. This arrangement from his opera Le Toreador is a playful conversation and sometimes duet between the flute and soprano.

A recital excerpt from Vivaldi's Piccolo Concerto in A Minor (Finale-Allegro)

fd_vivaldi.mp3 | 700kB

Performers: Leslie Zieren, piccolo and John Randall Hawkins, piano

Antonio Vivaldi was born in Venice on March 4, 1678, and died in Vienna on July 28, 1741. He was a prolific composer of operas, cantatas, motets, concertos, sonatas, and string ensemble works. This piece was probably played first on a flautino, a high pitched recorder, but fits today's modern piccolo just fine. The work is energetic, with sections of extreme virtuosity juxtaposed with passages for the accompaniment alone.