Emmanuel Pahud - Beethoven: Works for Flute (2020) [CD-Rip]

No one would put Beethoven's early works for flute at the top of his output, but flutist Emmanuel Pahud reveals some gems with these lively performances. The program works even though its lead item was not composed for the flute at all; Pahud did his own arrangement of the Violin Sonata No. 8 in G major, Op. 30, No. 3. The big draw here is the presence of 78-year-old Daniel Barenboim on piano. His work on what is much more than an accompanimental part is sprite-like, and he seems to inspire Pahud throughout to Rampal-like heights. The Serenade in D major for flute, violin, and viola, Op. 25, is an underplayed work, although it was popular in Beethoven's time, and it receives what may become a reference performance here. Pahud is joined, on the Serenade and the remainder of the program, by a group of top-notch Berlin Philharmonic players, and the work emerges as a characteristic example of the humorous spirit that pervades the period just before Beethoven's great breakthroughs. The two final works are early, in the case of the Trio for piano, flute, and bassoon, WoO 37, very early; Beethoven wrote this when he was 15. One doesn't think of Beethoven as a prodigy, but this is an accomplished Mozartian essay, enlivened once again by Barenboim's presence on the piano. A final attraction is the sound, recorded in the summer of 2020 at Berlin's Pierre Boulez Saal and Teldex Studio, and capturing the spirit as well as the sound of this music. A thoroughly delightful hour and a quarter of chamber music. ~ James Manheim