5 Selected Songs. Par MAHLER GUSTAV. The only known chamber music by Gustav Mahler is a movement for piano quartet from his student days at the Conservatorium in Vienna (1875-1878). The present new arrangements by Ronald Kornfeil go some way to addressing this gap while they also enrich the repertoire with pieces that are very interesting and demanding in their own right. The composer's rich song output includes his Wunderhorn songs, the Songs of a Wayfarer, the Rückert songs, the Kindertotenlieder (Songs on the Death of Children) as well as movements from his symphonies and the Song of the Earth. This book includes a selection of pieces that best suit the sound of the flute while providing plenty of variety. The arrangements transform Mahler's songs from their original conception for voice and piano or orchestral accompaniment into a purely instrumental dialogue between two equally important instrumentalists. In most cases the colourful orchestral versions provide the starting point. The omission of the text also demands different compositional techniques to bring out the various effects between indulgent sweetness and grotesque irony. The internationally acclaimed flautist, Emmanuel Pahud presents further publications in this new series bringing together selected pieces from the repertoire of famous flautists./ Répertoire / Flûte Traversière et Piano

'Verse 1' marks the beginning of a more ambitious and intense style of composition. The ideas are relatively simple and develop gradually in a cyclic fashion within a one movement sectional design. Progressively faster tempi leadto the main climax of the work near the end of the piece. Then a short coda leads to a very quiet ending and a return to the original tonal centre of C.Quoting composer:'In April 1975 I occupied a flat in Aldeburgh Suffolk near the seafront. As a member of the English Chamber Orchestra I had come to work for a week on a recording of Britten’s opera ‘Death in Venice’ so the real and suggested sound of the sea was in my ears so to speak for dayson end. A few weeks later when I started work on 'Verse 1' it became clear in the first few bars that I was recalling and suggesting the sea and the beach at Aldeburgh. I am not aware of any direct influence from Britten’smusic but I do however quote a small fragment from a theme to be found in a piano quartet by Mahler played early in the piece by the flute (bars 6 & 7).This work was awarded the First Prize in the Viotti InternationalCompetition for composers in Italy in 1975.

The New Essential Companion. Henrik Wiese, the internationally renowned orchestral and solo flautist, has spent four years compiling what promises to be the definitive guide to audition repertoire for students preparing for a seat in a professional orchestra. He has worked with his own students in Salzburg as they engaged in auditions, as well as with other professional players and his teaching colleagues at the conservatorium. He sourced repertoire lists from job advertisements past and present and referred to other audition lists such as those of Baxtresser and Wye. Considerable research has gone into the differences between existing editions of the chosen pieces even, surprisingly, from twentieth century composers such as Prokofiev and Stravinsky. 'The Flute Audition” then looks at practical matters such as page turns and metronome markings. Wiese comments, for example, that Hindemith's own recording takes a passage from 'Symphonic Metamorphoses” markedly slower than in the score. The result of all this painstaking research is the most comprehensive collection of international audition pieces yet published in a single volume. 'This is an excellent collection of orchestral excerpts for the next generation of young musicians. You can use it to prepare for auditions anywhere in the world. Whether it's for an opera house, symphony or chamber orchestra, everything you need is here.'/ Recueil / Flûte Traversière