The Flute on 20th cent.: Boulez, Dutileux, Varèse, Messiaen, Jolivet

Five classics for flute.

At the beginning of the 2Oth century Mallarmé’s Faune had already awoken the flute from its almost century-long ‘romantic’ slumber to come to the service of more transparent, more colourful... and more delicate sonorites. And yet, this fragile delicacy was abruptly called into question in 1936 when Varèse and Jolivet simultaneously composed Density 21.5 and the Cinq Incantations. Since then the violence and the emotional power the flute is capable of with the lacerating density of its sound made it one of the favourite instruments of post-war composers. This recording brings together five of the indispensable masterpieces in the contemporary flute repertoire, which also happen to be masterpieces of the music of our time.