Rock That Flute

by Dan Laurin

Overview

It's a bit hard to tell what you're getting in this recording by recorder virtuoso Dan Laurin, but rest assured, it's delightful. Rock music is only tangentially involved (there are no guitars or drums, just a small orchestra), and the cover is a mix of names, numbers, and an unfamiliar term. To start with the instrument: the Eagle Recorder is a contemporary creation of Dutch instrument builder Adriana Breukink. It is, in a word, a turbo recorder, with expanded capabilities designed to bring it to parity with an orchestra with no amplification. It has a large bore, several keys including an octave key, an expanded range, and "a new metal labium...which facilitates the attack and makes the sound even stronger." The basic sound isn't dramatically different from that of an ordinary alto recorder, but in the music here by composer Chiel Meijering (whose fondness for strange titles is fully on dislpay), it shows itself capable of quite a wide dynamic range. The 15 short pieces here are for recorder and orchestra, and Laurin refers to them as concerto movements, but that gives an incorrect idea of what they're like. The recorder parts are quite difficult in spots, but they don't emerge as individualistic utterances in opposition to the orchestral tutti; instead, the recorder insinuates itself into the music and twines itself around the orchestral lines, sometimes emerging ecstatically as in track 10, Sweet and Crazy (sample this one for an idea of the effect). The style is perhaps that of Delius with a slender layer of contemporary pop (not really rock, and there are no pop rhythms). The orchestral writing is as subtle as that for the flute, and to put these intricate structures together requires an effort from the chamber orchestra 1B1 and conductor Jan Bjoranger that is as rigorous as Laurin's playing. BIS' sound engineers get wonderfully transparents results from Norway's Stavanger Concert Hall. Highly recommended for lovers of contemporary extended-technique composition. ~ James Manheim

Product Details

Release Date:	01/08/2016
Label:	BIS
UPC:	7318599921457

Tracks

1. Soprano's Lament~(part 1), Concerto movement for Eagle recorder and strings
2. The Pied Piper~(part 4), Concerto movement for Eagle recorder and strings
3. The Mask Painted White~(part 1), Concerto movement for Eagle recorder and strings
4. Morning Mist in Bergen~(part 1), Concerto movement for Eagle recorder and strings
5. Blom~(part 1), Concerto movement for Eagle recorder and strings
6. Now!~(part 3), Concerto movement for Eagle recorder and strings
7. In the Happiest, the Darkest~(part 3), Concerto movement for Eagle recorder and strings
8. Rock That Flute~(part 3), Concerto movement for Eagle recorder and strings
9. Now!~(part 2), Concerto movement for Eagle recorder and strings
10. Sweet and Crazy~(part 2), Concerto movement for Eagle recorder and strings
11. The Pied Piper~(part 3), Concerto movement for Eagle recorder and strings
12. Salute~(part 2), Concerto movement for Eagle recorder and strings
13. Angels' Gaze~(part 1), Concerto movement for Eagle recorder and strings
14. Pentatonic Insomnia~(part 3), Concerto movement for Eagle recorder and strings
15. Eagles Commonly Fly Alone~(part 1), Concerto movement for Eagle recorder and strings

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Dan Laurin   Primary Artist,Recorder
Jan Bjoranger   Conductor
1B1   Ensemble

Technical Credits

Blom Meijering   Cover Photo
Robert Suff   Executive Producer
Ingo Petry   Mixing,Editing,Recording Producer,Engineer
Pelle Piano   Cover Photo
Chiel Meijering   Composer
Horst A. Scholz   Liner Note Translation
Arlette Lemieux-Chene   Liner Note Translation
Dan Laurin   Liner Notes
Andrew Barnett   Typesetting