East Germany (as GDR was referred to in the West) was governed in a Stalinist Soviet style. Everything -- including music -- was tightly controlled, with Soviet Realism the aesthetic goal.
But the GDR wasn't the USSR. And so what defined "music for the people" had a slightly different definition, as these works show.
Gunter Kochan's Concertino for Flute and Orchestra dates from 1964. The Cold War was at its hottest. Yet Kochan's work isn't politically safe music-making. Rather, it's a cheeky little number with the attitude of early Prokofiev.
The Concerto for Flute and Orchestra by Sigfried Matthus is another surprise. Soviet composers lived in fear of being labeled "modernist." But that's exactly what this 1978 concerto is.
It's aggressively dissonant. Notes grind against notes. An energetically aggressive percussion section drives home the climaxes, and the flute exhibits some extended techniques. Matthus' music might seem a little conservative compared to Western contemporaries. But in the Soviet world, this was dangerously daring stuff.
Guisbert Nathaer lived and worked in the GDR, but his concerto was composed long after its collapse. Flutist Claudia Stein commissioned the Concerto for Flute and Orchestra in 2007. It has a fresh, modern sound. The concerto is a lively, good-humored work that showcases Stein's talents brilliantly.
All three works receive their world recording premiers here. And all three are worth the effort. Stein delivers some committed performances. Her tone is pure and her articulation always spot-on.
Highly recommended. And I'd be very interested to hear more works by these three composers.
East German Flute Concertos
Kochan, Näther, Matthus
Claudia Stein, Flute
Brandenburgisches Staatsorchester Frankfurt' David Robert Coleman. director|
Naxos 8.57457
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