LESSEL Flutes music AP0178[JS]: Classical CD Reviews - February 2008 MusicWeb-International

Here is a disc offering less than fifty minutes of music with which you are almost certainly unfamiliar. It was written for an small and unpromising combination by a composer who is likely to be barely a name, if that, to you. Why should you buy it? The simple answer is that it contains music of great delight. Not important or profound music, and not to be played as a whole, but if taken one Duet at a time I can promise considerable musical pleasure.

Franciszek Lessel was the son of an obscure but learned musician, Wincenty Lessel, who encouraged his son not merely to follow him as a musician, but to ensure that he did better for himself than his father had done. Franciszek was sent to Vienna where he studied with Haydn, Cherubini and Salieri, and listened to the then-new music by Beethoven, Hummel and Clementi. Duets for two flutes were common at a time when it was an instrument regarded as suitable for gentlemen to play. Many were published, especially in London - as were the present examples, and presumably they gave much pleasure to those for whom they were written. The majority are indeed immense fun to play but even the most prejudiced flautist would not seriously suggest that most give anything like comparable pleasure to listeners. There is nowhere when writing for such a modest combination for a composer to hide any lack of imagination or technique.

It is here that these duets stand out. They abound in sheer inventiveness and charm, very much in the style of the time but not without some individuality. It is perhaps arguable that they would sound even better on instruments of the period, but the two players here have an agreeable tone, avoiding the excessive vibrato to which some players of the modern instrument are prone. They have sufficient variety of tonguing and volume to avoid the monotony which might otherwise set in very quickly. A note by Elżbieta Gajawska makes clear how much work was required to produce a modern edition of the pieces. They previously existed only in the original 1802 London publication in two separate parts for the two flutes. These contained many apparent errors. The work in preparing the modern edition seems to have been done well. I am sure that I am not alone in hoping that she will be publishing it soon so that others can enjoy playing them. Having said that, most of us will only be able to dream of playing them anywhere near as well as is the case here.

The notes, in Polish and English, are full and useful, although a magnifying glass is useful for reading them. But I must not carp. This is a surprisingly diverting disc which I hope will have the success it deserves, even given the very limited amount of music on it - it is the quality of the music and performance that counts. I see that Acte Préalable have recorded other works by this composer. On the basis of this disc they too are probably well worth exploring.

John Sheppard