Concertos pour instruments à vent

Description

This record is a bit like the first outdoor breakfast of the year: we know we’ll have more gastronomic meals, but this one is just for pleasure! It’s the controversial symphonie concertante for winds that provides the concept: showcasing the very skilled "principals" of the LPO's woodwind section, whose rapport with Jurowski and their colleagues is perfect. The conductor reminds us that he is a very good theater conductor: we find ourselves in an express opera that he energizes as desired (some measures from the first movement must have given the bassoonist cold sweats…). It’s hard to compete with the "all-stars" gathered around Neville Marriner by Phillips, but here we have the version with clarinet. The bassoon concerto must face competition from Gwydion Brooke and the RPO, the other London orchestra founded by Sir Thomas Beecham. Not easy, but we gain a modern recording that remarkably captures the texture and nuances of Jonathan Davies's bassoon (previously the principal bassoon of… the RPO). Then there’s Juliette Bausor’s flute, charming and sprightly like a young girl in a spring dress: no showiness, just a little delight of carefreeness and lightness. The LPO treats her well with an accompaniment that is, however, a bit too compact and distant. The icing on the cake is the cadences by Rachel Brown and a good booklet. (Olivier Eterradossi)