Dan Laurin's spirited way with the soprano, alto and sopranino recorders
lights up the Recorder Concerto a work already illuminated by icy
cold string writing. The hiccuping solo writing cannot help but invoke recall
of the Nielsen flute concerto. Memorable incidents are plentiful; I single
out the optimistic piping and the fey chase with celesta and vibraphone.
Put behind you any thoughts of school recorder bands. Dan Laurin sweeps such
dullard heresy away amid some of the sweetest and most unsentimental of writing.
The first of Holmboe's pair of Flute Concertos starts with that typical
double and triple blow impact which also lends an imperious air to the Cello
Concerto. Holmboe casts a mysterious oriental cloak over the capricious
reflections especially in the finale. Fast forward only six years to the
Second Concerto and Holmboe permits himself writing in a much more
direct language. In both flute works the music patters and chimes in the
second movement. The celesta dance at 1.03 in the magical andante devozione
of No. 2 recalls the 'music box' moments from Malcolm Arnold's Fifth
Symphony.
The star here is the thoroughly grown up Recorder Concerto but the Flute
Concertos have powers to charm and shiver.
Unlike the brass concertos all three works are products of the period 1974
to 1982.
The usual un-gauzed BIS recording quality makes an unglamorous but true-hearted
advocate for the music.
Rob Barnett
Dan Laurin (recorder)
