Music at 6: The Flutes

…pour la flûte, per il flauto, für Flöte…
…but for which flute?

This question always arises when dealing with early music, when composers simply wrote flauto without specifying which instrument they meant. The transverso is dark, sonorous and soft, and its strengths are particularly evident in cross keys; the recorder, on the other hand, is bright, clear, articulate and feels most at home in B flat keys. They are like yin and yang: two parallel worlds that rarely meet in a composition. But what happens when they do? Can difference become harmony?

In this concert, we tell the story of the flutes – of contrast and dialogue, of timbres and characters – and bring together two seemingly contrasting instruments that form a surprising unity in their shared musical space.

 

• Georg Philipp Telemann: Concerto for Flauto Dolce and Flauto Traverso
• Jacques Martin Hotteterre: First Suite in B minor 
  from First Suite of Pieces for Two Melodic Instruments without Continuo, Op.4 
• Johann Sebastian Bach: Aria: Ich habe genug
  from the cantata: Ich habe genug, BWV82a 
• Antonio Vivaldi: Concerto in C minor for flute, RV441 

Nae Kohatsu Matakas (soprano)
Ngating Wong (transverso)
Fangchi Hsu (recorder)
Aleksandra Maglevanaia (viola da gamba)
Daria Doliuk, Johanna Dall’Asta (baroque violin)
Tim-Wai Lam (baroque viola)
Raphael de Noronha Lima (baroque cello)
Águeda Macias de Oliveira (violone)
Ekaterina Khokhlova (harpsichord)