CD ReviewsFeaturedIssuesJuly 2023Reviews

Juliette Hurel New CD: Nature Romantique

The Flute View

Juliette Hurel is known in the French and in the international music world as a famous flautist. She was unanimously awarded the first prize for flute and the first prize for chamber music at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique in Paris and obtained prizes in different competitions such as those in Darmstadt, Kobé, Boekarest and the Jean-Pierre Rampal concours. In 2004 she was nominated for the “Discoveries of the year” in the “Victoires de la Musique Classique”. As a soloist she can be regularly heard with many French orchestras, including with the Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra, Hong-Kong Sinfonietta, Orchestre Métropolitain de Montréal, BBC Wales Orchestra. Since 1998 Juliette has been solo flautist with Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, first conducted by Valery Gergiev then by Yannick Nézet-Séguin and since 2018 by Lahav Shani. She has been teaching at the Rotterdam Conservatory since 2010.

 

Three leading soloists celebrate Nature in the Romantic era. Flautist Juliette Hurel and pianist Hélène Couvert, currently celebrating thirty years of musical partnership, are joined for this recording by cellist Emmanuelle Bertrand, who was voted ‘Instrumental Soloist of the Year’ at the French Music Awards 2022. They present a recital that enables us to meet the miller’s apprentice imagining his impending death surrounded by the flowers given him by his lost love (in transcriptions of Schubert’s Die schöne Müllerin) and the water nymph Undine, who seeks to gain a human soul (in Reinecke’s Undine Sonata).

 

Brief history of the CD by Juliette Hurel

 

Hélène Couvert and I had wanted to record the Undine Sonata for a long time, as well as the Weber Trio with Emmanuelle Bertrand. We thought about what links exists between the two pieces and which additional piece could be a "complement"? We decided that "Nature" was the link as Reinecke and Weber were inspired by it (3rd movement of the trio), then, it became obvious that Trockne Blumen was the perfect piece to complete this program. We added two lieder, Trockne Blumen original lied, because of the interesting difference between the voice and the flute version, and Schafers Klage Lied because Schubert and Weber used the same poem by Goethe. We recorded in December 2022 in a very beautiful concert hall in Soissons, not far from Paris. It was a very cold place to record and very intense!

 

Where did you get your inspiration?

 

My last CD with Hélène was dedicated to French Women Composers from the end of 19th century, and now we wanted to record a totally different repertoire. Since we love romantic musique, we decided to choose this program.

 

Facts about the project?

 

I have played with Hélène for 30 years. We share such a great relationship. We are best friends and playing together is always a big joy. We know Emmanuelle Bertrand for many years and we have always had the feeling of being part of the same "musical" family in terms of musical language, lines, ideas, and of course, friendship.

 

 

TRACK LIST

  • 01. Trio for Flute, Cello and Piano in G Minor, Op. 63: I. Allegro moderato 8:36
  • 02. Trio for Flute, Cello and Piano in G Minor, Op. 63: II. Scherzo. Allegro vivace 3:00
  • 03. Trio for Flute, Cello and Piano in G Minor, Op. 63: III. Schäfers Klage. Andante espressivo 3:44
  • 04. Trio for Flute, Cello and Piano in G Minor, Op. 63: IV. Finale. Allegro 8:26
  • 05. Schäfers Klagelied, D. 121 3:19
  • 06. Flute Sonata in E Minor, Op. 167 "Undine" : I. Allegro 6:33
  • 07. Flute Sonata in E Minor, Op. 167 "Undine" : II. Intermezzo. Allegretto vivace 3:34
  • 08. Flute Sonata in E Minor, Op. 167 "Undine" : III. Andante tranquillo 3:48
  • 09. Flute Sonata in E Minor, Op. 167 "Undine" : IV. Finale. Allegro molto agitato ed appassionato, quasi presto 5:47
  • 10. Introduction and Variations on Trockne Blumen, D. 802: I. Introduction 2:40
  • 11. Introduction and Variations on Trockne Blumen, D. 802: II. Theme 1:49
  • 12. Introduction and Variations on Trockne Blumen, D. 802: III. Variation I 1:34
  • 13. Introduction and Variations on Trockne Blumen, D. 802: IV. Variation II 1:35
  • 14. Introduction and Variations on Trockne Blumen, D. 802: V. Variation III 2:02
  • 15. Introduction and Variations on Trockne Blumen, D. 802: VI. Variation IV 1:44
  • 16. Introduction and Variations on Trockne Blumen, D. 802: VII. Variation V 2:04
  • 17. Introduction and Variations on Trockne Blumen, D. 802: VIII. Variation VI 2:39
  • 18. Introduction and Variations on Trockne Blumen, D. 802: IX. Variation VII 3:09
  • 19. Die Schöne Müllerin, D. 795: No. 18, Trockne Blumen 3:17

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