Flute Sonatas & Solo Works —Brandon Patrick George, flute; Steven Beck, Jacob Greenberg, pianos (Hänssler 18039)
As a child in Dayton, Ohio, Brandon Patrick George recalls pressing his face against a pawnshop window to catch a glimpse of a flute on display. His fascination with the instrument led him to study at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music with Michel Debost, before receiving further training in Paris and New York. He is currently the flutist in the trail-blazing ensemble, Imani Winds. George’s solo debut album spans three hundred years of music history, and features works by J.S. Bach, Pierre Boulez, Kalevi Aho, and Sergei Prokofiev. George describes his album as “a dialogue between the past and the future.” Bach’s Partita for Solo Flute and Aho’s Solo III represent those opposite poles while two works with piano accompaniment from the 1940s are bridges between them: the Sonatine by Pierre Boulez and Prokofiev’s Sonata in D Op 94. It’s a thoughtful program of music spanning three centuries, brilliantly executed!