20th Century Flute Sonatas Vol. 1: EASTERN LANDS

From the earliest days of my musical education, I have been profoundly drawn to the music of the twentieth century. At just 16 years old, during my first public recital, I performed Francis Poulenc’s Sonata for Flute and Piano – a testament to an innate affinity for this rich repertoire that is so significant for our instrument. In this collection of three discs, I have sought to represent a musical universe that resonates deeply with me, incorporating principal works for flute and piano composed between 1900 and 1960. Given the vast expanse of the twentieth-century flute repertoire, it was necessary to select key pieces: my favourites and those I consider most significant.
Furthermore, since embarking on my recording projects, I have been committed to reviving scores that are seldom performed today but were once met with considerable acclaim, only to be forgotten due to chance or unusual circumstances. This is why, alongside sonatas by Poulenc, Prokofiev, Schulhoff, Martinů, and Hindemith – undisputed masterpieces now central to the flute repertoire – you will find competition pieces by Dutilleux, Messiaen, and Martin. Additionally, there are some less familiar offerings, such as the evocative Sonata by Émile Nerini, composed for René Le Roy in 1923, and the exotic suite “In the Palm Garden” written for Marcel Moyse in 1946 by the Jewish composer André Bloch, whose works, though celebrated in his lifetime, have since fallen into obscurity.
The first disc, “EASTERN LANDS,” features three sonatas by composers from Eastern Europe. Prokofiev, Martinů, and Schulhoff not only belong to the same generation and shared itinerant paths that led them to relocate for various reasons, but they also each composed a sonata dedicated to the flute. These are masterpieces now regarded as emblematic of the entire twentieth-century repertoire. Common to all three is a certain brilliance in their writing, challenging performers with virtuosic demands while alternating with melancholic and poignant lyricism. While the sonatas by Martinů and Prokofiev were composed towards the end of the Second World War, Schulhoff’s sonata predates them by almost twenty years.

Sergei Sergeyevich Prokofiev (1891-1953)
Born in 1891 in what is now Ukraine, then part of the Russian Empire, Prokofiev was an independent composer who did not align himself with any particular school. He was heavily criticised by the Stalinist regime for his musical audacity and reluctance to affiliate with established groups. This strong free spirit found solace in travels and tours around the world, notably in France and the United States. He engaged with numerous artists and performers of his time, including Igor Stravinsky – with whom he maintained a certain rivalry – as well as Arthur Rubinstein and members of the Parisian “Groupe des Six.” He formed close ties with Francis Poulenc, a great admirer of his work, as well as with Maurice Ravel, Claude Debussy, and Richard Strauss. Despite acclaim abroad, upon his return to Russia in 1932, he was consistently hindered and undervalued by the local regime.
Prokofiev completed his Sonata for Flute and Piano Op. 94 in the summer of 1943 in Alma-Ata (now Almaty, the largest city of Kazakhstan), while also working on the music for “Ivan the Terrible.” The piece, in D major, adheres with remarkable rigour to the formal rules of the classical sonata, respecting the tonal relationships between themes yet eschewing academic rigidity through imaginative transitions and abrupt modulations. It possesses a lyrical inspiration typical of the composer’s later years, while still allowing space for the aggressive and nonconformist elements characteristic of his style. Today, it stands as perhaps the foremost sonata for this instrumental combination, both structurally and in terms of instrumental writing.
The Sonata exudes freshness and inventiveness, combined with a lively sense of humour from the opening Moderato, characterised by melodious, singing lines. The Scherzo is among the composer’s most admired works for its finesse and elegance. The Andante and Finale, despite rhythmic complexities, reveal a taste for form and musical symmetry reminiscent of the sparkling and effervescent style of his youthful “Classical Symphony.” The sonata was first performed by flautist Nikolay Kharkovsky, accompanied by pianist Sviatoslav Richter, on 7th December 1943 in Moscow. The following year, at the suggestion of virtuoso David Oistrakh, Prokofiev transcribed the sonata as Op. 94bis for violin and piano, modifying only the flute part and leaving the piano part unchanged.

Bohuslav Martinů (1890-1959)
Bohuslav Martinů was born into a humble family in the Czech Republic. He soon moved to Prague to continue his musical studies in violin and composition under Josef Suk. An exuberant and rebellious character, always seeking a vibrant and stimulating environment, he relocated to Paris in 1923, where he furthered his studies with Albert Roussel. There, he also met Igor Stravinsky, Arthur Honegger, and members of the “Groupe des Six.” Together with composers such as Alexandre Tansman and Tibor Harsányi, he founded the so-called “École de Paris” (School of Paris).
In 1940, due to the unfolding war, Martinů left France and moved with his wife to the United States, teaching at Princeton University until 1943. He remained in America for thirteen years, obtaining citizenship before spending his final years between Rome and Switzerland, where he died in 1959.
Martinů composed the Sonata for Flute and Piano H. 306 in 1945 at Cape Cod during his stay in the United States. The piece is dedicated to the French flautist Georges Laurent (1886-1964), a pupil of Paul Taffanel and Philippe Gaubert, among others. After the First World War, Laurent moved to Boston, where he served as principal flautist of the Boston Symphony Orchestra until 1952. He became acquainted with Martinů at the Tanglewood summer music seminars, where both were teaching advanced courses.
Charlotte Martinů, the composer’s wife, writes in her memoirs about the flute sonata: “The bird called the whippoorwill sang in a wood near our house all night, and as a result, the theme of its song is present in the Flute Sonata (in the third movement).” The compositional style is a blend of French neoclassicism and modern music. Martinů utilises rhythmic displacement and motivic reduction – concepts adapted, in simplified form, from Stravinsky’s compositional style.
The Sonata is structured in three movements: Allegro moderato, Adagio, and Allegro poco moderato. The opening Allegro moderato is immediately recognisable as quintessential Martinů, with its angular melodic and harmonic contours, followed by a solemn and majestic Adagio in E-flat minor/major. Reflecting the composer’s years of exile in the United States during the Second World War, the concluding Allegro poco moderato suggests the influence of American dance rhythms in the style of Aaron Copland, before transitioning into a whirlwind of exchanges between the two instruments and concluding virtuosity. Although Martinů originally titled the work “First Sonata for Flute and Piano,” he never had the opportunity to write a second.

Erwin Schulhoff (1894-1942)
Erwin Schulhoff was born on 9th June 1894 in what is now the Czech Republic. His parents were Germans of Jewish origin. Displaying remarkable talent from a very young age, he moved to Vienna, Leipzig, and Cologne, aided by the support and recommendation of Antonín Dvořák. He had the opportunity to study with Claude Debussy and Max Reger. After the First World War, these influences merged with even more progressive currents – in particular, the Second Viennese School of Arnold Schoenberg and the rhythms, contours, and energy of American jazz – to shape Schulhoff’s utterly distinctive voice.
During the two decades between the Treaty of Versailles and the invasion of Poland, Schulhoff was acclaimed as one of the foremost composers and performers of his time; he was also a skilled pianist. Following the rise of Nazism, and due to his background, he worked mainly in Czechoslovakia. Being Jewish, homosexual, communist, and an avant-gardist, Schulhoff was a prime target for the Nazis, who captured him before he could escape to the Soviet Union. Relations with his family deteriorated; when his wife fell ill, he entered into a romantic relationship with one of his students, leading to a difficult divorce. These personal and psychological torments are particularly evident in his later works.
While in the concentration camp, he continued to compose works for piano, notably his Eighth Symphony, which he dedicated as a tribute to his fellow prisoners who had been massacred. Erwin Schulhoff belongs to that significant generation of Central European composers whose careers and lives were tragically cut short by the senseless policies and violence of Hitler’s Third Reich.
Schulhoff’s Sonata for Flute and Piano dates back to his exuberant Parisian years. He wrote it for his friend, flautist René Le Roy, with whom he premiered it in Paris in April 1927. Schulhoff himself was apparently not entirely satisfied with the score, describing it to an editor at his publishing house, Universal Edition, as “printed kitsch, but skilfully done.” Contemporary critics seemed to agree with this assessment, though many also noted its engaging character.
The four movements of the Sonata pass in a flash. The first, a variation on the traditional sonata-allegro form, marries impressionistic and jazz influences. For the second movement, Schulhoff composed an explosive Scherzo, whose driving energy leads to a surprising coda. The third is a haunting Aria, featuring a searching flute melody accompanied by the piano’s persistent harmonic progressions. A highly intricate and contrapuntal Rondo concludes this brilliant flute sonata.
Concluding this first disc is “Susi,” a fox-trot song written in December 1937 during the political turmoil preceding the Munich Agreement. Here, Schulhoff evokes the happier period of the “Golden Twenties.” It serves as a small homage from the artists, conceived as an encore for a concert programme. Given its style – which was not approved by the Nazi regime – the piece was published under one of the pseudonyms the composer often used in such circumstances: Hanuš Petr, Georg Hanell, Eman Balzar, Franta Michálek, or Jan Kaláb. In this case, he chose Eman Balzar.
Filippo Mazzoli © 2024