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Great flute music in the Naxos Music Library!

Well, despite good intentions to start a weekly blog in January, it appears I will be starting it in February. The New Year brought more updates and work than expected, and through it all I enjoyed listening to (predominantly) flute music. I was a flautist in college and always seem to gravitate to flute and piccolo music in the Naxos Music Library. The following suggestions include some of my more-recent discoveries. I hope some of you will also find a few new pieces to enjoy!


1. Egil Hovland – Piccolo Concerto, Op. 117 (ACD5004) I enjoyed this piece not only for the fabulous piccolo-writing, but for the beautifully-executed cadenza at the end!

2. Bartolomeo Campagnoli –Flute Concerto in D major, Op. 3, No. 2 (CDS214)

3. Walter Gieseking –Flute Sonata (AV2076) This CD has become one of my favorites. All pieces are truly beautiful, but Gieseking’s Flute Sonata gets my vote for “the piece to listen to” on this album.

4. Gary Schocker –Flute Quartet No. 1, “Nymphs” (INNOVA556) I’ve admired Schocker’s playing for a while. His first quartet was playful and fun to hear!

5. Antonio Vivaldi –Piccolo Concerto in C major, RV 443 (BIS-CD-21)

6. Kenji Bunch “Velocity” and Eve Beglarian “I will not be sad in this world” (8.559629) Great modern pieces that use a great deal of extended technique and electronics respectively—

7. Philippe Gaubert –Fantasie (LVC1071)

8. Cesare Ciardi –Works for Flute and Piano (CDS78) I had never heard Ciardi’s works for flute, and I especially enjoyed his works in theme and variation.

9. W.A. Mozart’s Violin Sonatas arr. for flute and Francois-Bernard Mache’s “Sopiana” (ACD22108) This CD had a lovely mix of all types of flute music; from Classical to Modern. The Mozart flute concertos are lovely, but it was nice hearing a flautist play Mozart works that I hadn’t heard or played a dozen times. The Mache piece was new to me, as was the orchestration (tape and flute), which I enjoyed.

10. Sean Hickey –Flute Sonata (8.559279)