Appreciation of this CD may depend on a strong interest in flute music or an admiration of
Alexa Still, but there are few other attractions. The three works for flute and orchestra presented here are certainly competent contributions to the modern flute repertoire, but they are also peculiarly uninspired.
John Corigliano's The Pied Piper Fantasy is perhaps the most complicated and cleverly orchestrated, yet its music is less than compelling, whether in full modernist fury or in cute Renaissance parody: one is unchallenged by the former and uncharmed by the latter. The remaining pieces that frame
Corigliano's are much slighter; while they have surface appeal for their tonality and easy-to-digest material, they are strangely unrewarding on repeated listening.
Katherine Hoover's Medieval Suite is bland and derivative in places of early
Bartók and
Stravinsky, more of a nod to the early twentieth century than the intended fourteenth. Chen Yi's The Golden Flute is an exercise in exoticism, prettily orchestrated but not especially memorable beyond that. This leaves one to consider
Still's performances, which are polished and appealing, and perhaps the chief reason to hear this disc.
James Sedares and the
New Zealand Symphony Orchestra lend solid support to
Still's virtuosic playing, and Koch's recording is fine.