The Virtuoso Flute - Raffaele Trevisani / Paola Girardi (DE 3340)

Never was a CD more aptly titled than this recent Delos release featuring the artistry of flutist Raffaele Trevisani and pianist Paola Girardi.
This new flute and piano CD of 19th century repertoire demonstrates the enormous advances in virtuosic playing made possible with mechanical improvements added to the instrument in the first third of the century.
Composers of the age of romanticism including Donizetti, Sarasate, Boehm, Massenet, Doppler, Borne and Bazzini all created music which reveled in emotion, virtuosic execution and individual indulgences of all kinds.
Raffaele Trevisani, playing his 14-carat gold Miramatsu flute, illustrates the period’s special qualities brilliantly with his unique sound and masterful technique, unsurpassed by any other flutist playing today.
The pianist’s contribution to this recording is also estimable. Paola Girardi responds to and supports Mr. Trevisani’s most extravagant and demanding outbursts. Her musicianship and grasp of the romantic style blend seemlessly with Trevisani’s own vision.
Donizetti’s almost operatic sonata, flute transcriptions of Sarasate and Bazzini’s violin showpieces, and Massenet’s Meditation from Thaïs are only part of the dazzling repertoire. Selections by Boehm, Doppler and Borne complete the picture, especially Borne’s “Fantaisie brilliante sur Carmen” in which Mr. Trevisani’s flute solos are guaranteed to leave the listener, if not Mr. Trevisani, breathless.