Jarvlepp, Jan Concerto 2000 and other orchestral music ~ Concerto 2000 for flute and orchestra, Pierrot Solaire, Brass Dance, Street Music, In Memoriam, Camerata Music ~ Various performers. ~ Navona Records nv6291
Jan Jarvlepp has composed three concertos and concerto-like scores. In addition to the flute concerto on this CD there is one for flute and English Horn, another for recycled instruments (the Garbage Concerto) and a suite for viola and orchestra. They have a few things in common including animated, even raucous outer movements and lovely, contemplative slow movements.
Concerto 2000 begins with a Spanish-sounding movement and ends with one that the composer says was influenced by Finnish folk music. In between is a serene, mysterious one said to be influenced in part by Arabic styles of singing. It is nearly as long as the two other movements combined. Some listeners may find that this throws the work out of balance, or at least makes it feel less concerto-like. Repeated hearings make it seem more integral, however.
Flutist Pascale Margely, for whom the concerto was originally written, is especially persuasive in the slow movement which depends on long, languorous melodic lines. Margely executes them nicely. Conductor Stanislav Vavrinek and the Janácek Philharmonic Orchestra are more than reliable in holding up their end of things, and the recorded sound is excellent.
Jarvlepp describes the feeling of the third movement as evocative of a rowdy Finnish wedding. Those looking for more rowdy will be pleased with Pierrot Solaire, a rock’n’roll-inspired piece that’s as close to a chestnut as one normally gets in the world of new music. The Zagreb Festival Orchestra and conductor Ivan Josip Skender convey the music’s spirit with gusto, as they do in the next piece, Brass Dance.
The remaining three works in this collection are played by the Moravian Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of Petr Vronsky. The most notable of them is In Memorium, conceived while Jarvlepp attended his brother’s death bed. The composer calls it the most sincere of all his works and indeed its combination of dignity and sorrow is most affecting.
Listeners who enjoy this CD might also be interested in the composer’s Garbage Concerto on BIS-CD-1052. Also, he is currently working on another concerto, this one for steel drums and orchestra.
Concerto 2000 is distributed by Naxos, so even if your friendly neighbourhood record store doesn’t have it they can get it readily, or you can order it from Amazon.