Erik LOTICHIUS (1929-2015)
Playtime!
Sonata for Flute and Piano [13:15]
A Little Rhumba [2:22]
Noëlette (Flute Quartet) [10:02]
Saxophone Quartet [8:32]
Playtime (Clarinet Quartet) [3:21]
Quartet for violin, oboe, guitar and bassoon [14:13]
Woodwind Quintet [9:35]
Trio for clarinet, violoncello and piano [16:19]
La Minime [3:45]
Paula Lotichius (flute, Sonata, A Little Rhumba, Flute Quartet, Woodwind Quintet)
Ben Simmes (piano, Sonata, A Little Rhumba)
Aída López Sucunza, Mirand Loff, Peter Verduyn Lunel (flutes, Flute Quartet)
Euregio Saxophone Quartet, Clarinet Quartet of the KMKJWF,
Maria-Paula Majoor (violin), Irma Kort (oboe), Izhar Elias (guitar), Birgit Strahl (bassoon, Quartet for violin, oboe, guitar and bassoon),
Diana Combé (oboe), Irene Teepe (clarinet), Joop Bremer (bassoon), Kirsten Jeurissen (horn, Woodwind Quintet).
Carl Rosman (clarinet), Arno van der Vuurst (cello), Hanna Shybayeva (piano, Trio, La Minime).
rec. 22-25 August 2019, Onder de Linden, Valthermond, The Netherlands
SOLAIRE RECORDS SOL1011 [81:40]
I first came across Erik Lotichius on the Solaire Records label with Ralph van Raat’s intriguing recording of the Anaitalrax collection of piano pieces (review). If you are introducing yourself to this composer then Playtime! is in some ways an even better starting point, with its wide variety of ensembles and representatively eclectic span of stylistic colours. While substantial, this program makes no claim to completeness when it comes to Lotichius’s wind music. Indeed, it seems likely that more of his music remains to be discovered.
If I have any criticism of this release it is the lack of dates for these pieces, so establishing a chronology or accurately identifying stylistic development is tricky. I couldn’t find any information online either so perhaps blame shouldn’t be placed on this production. The attractive Sonata for Flute and Piano has an eclectic mix of influences, from witty moments of jazz and touches of Gershwin and Milhaud, to that, ‘if in doubt, Habanera’ feel with the dance styles included - a feature not unknown to conventional Dutch music in the mid 20th century. This is a superbly effective piece, idiomatically written for the flute and with what sounds like an enjoyable piano part. I can see it becoming a repertoire staple alongside A Little Rhumba that pops out as if it were a fourth movement to the Sonata. Noëlette takes familiar Christmas carols and wraps them in variation-feel fluty tinsel with a light and skilful touch, another piece that should be taken up gratefully by flute people every Autumn in readiness for the festive season.
The booklet tells us that wind music was not the focal point of Erik Lotichius’s compositional work, but the Saxophone Quartet represents his love for an instrument that has “become a fixture on the Dutch musical scene.” This natural affection and feel for the saxophone comes through in a warmly welcoming work filled with appealing harmonies and expressive lyricism. That jazz feel is a strong element here as you might expect, with some lovely sliding chords in the central slow movement and an animated rhythmic character to the outer movements. This is a piece that has already had concert success and deservedly so. Playtime for clarinet quartet does what it says on the tin, with a distinctly playful feel to its syncopated rhythms and the interplay of the instruments, harmonies being formed by filigree fingering.
The change in timbre between these previous works and the Quartet for violin, oboe, guitar and bassoon is a sharp contrast, the composer taking us into more exotic climes with a snake-charmer oboe in the opening Andante tranquillo. This unusual combination of instruments demands a different approach, the character of each being entirely distinctive when compared to the more consort nature of the previous quartets. The booklet text has some fascinating anecdotes about the actual instruments recorded here, and the playing is superb. The spirit of Ravel is invoked as a reference when it comes to the communicative power and sense of detailed compositional writing here, but giving a true sense of the music in writing is tricky. This is a substantial work, perhaps with a touch of sentimentality in its central Andante, but as with all of these pieces the enjoyment for players and listener alike is palpable.
The Woodwind Quintet is, as one of the musicians puts it, “light and accessible”, but as ever it is by no means clichéd, and is full of surprises. None of its four movements go beyond three minutes in duration, so compactness is certainly a feature here. There is not an ounce of wasted material, and each instrument is perfectly placed in the texture of the whole and is equal in importance, with plenty of little solos for everyone. The Trio for clarinet, violoncello and piano is a fairly unusual combination but works very well indeed, certainly given Lotichius’s keen sense of craftsmanship. There is an underlying energy here, with a bustling Schubertian inventiveness in the first movement even where the dynamic is often soft. Relaxed and jazzy, the central Andante has that ‘flâneur in town’ feel, while the final Allegro non troppo is an engaging and witty character piece, the imagery of which is rich food for the imagination. The programme concludes with the same instrumentation in La Minime which has a more minimalist feel, its ostinato figurations exploring some harmonic variations but leaving us with a slightly unfinished feel. This might arguably have gone better before the Trio.
This entire recording was made in the same ‘boerderij’ concert venue in Valthermond as that very fine album with Schubert’s Sonata D960 made by Rian de Waal (review), and with so many connections with the musicians and composer remarked upon in the excellent booklet with this release, this whole production has an attractive and welcoming ‘family’ feel. The recordings are superb as you would expect, with an admirable consistency throughout despite the wide range of instrumentation involved, and all of the performances are excellent. Erik Lotichius may not be the grandest name in Dutch music, but he wrote music you will actually enjoy and want to hear more than once - a noble achievement in anyone’s book.
Dominy Clements
