TANYA DUSEVIC WITEK

• MS1161 Sample

"This is all great music, played by highly skilled performers. Flutist Tanya Dusevic Witek...plays with tremendous power and agility...Her tone is massive but beautiful and soaring - a perfect match for this repertoire. I am also deeply impressed with pianist Charles Foreman. He plays with a rich, deep tone, clear articulation, and impeccable phrasing and style...stellar reading [of the Schulhoff]..."

American Record Guide - March / April 2007

The pieces by Martinů, Schulhoff, Reinecke and Janáček included on this recording are close to my heart for many reasons. Martinů’s phrasing echoes the rhythm of the Czech language and I have a great fondness for the uneven, conversational quality of Martinů’s melodies - perhaps because of my own Slavic ancestry. His affinity for the flute is unmistakable, making this work very gratifying to play. The recently rediscovered Sonata for Flute and Piano by Schulhoff is a gem within the flute repertoire. Glimpses of Slavonic folk style, jazz and impressionism characterize Schulhoff’s writing, and the exploration of his Sonata infused this recording project with a refreshing energy. While the Schulhoff is a recent discovery for me, the Reinecke Sonata "Undine" has been a favorite piece since my childhood. The tale of the water nymph who longs to become human has always captivated my imagination, and the soaring romantic melodies are perfectly suited to the flute. The recording concludes with a short piccolo and piano piece by Janáček entitled Pochod Modráčků (March of the Blue Breasts). I first encountered this material when I was playing the important woodwind chamber work Mládi (Youth). The small scale piccolo piece appears rather inconsequential on its own; however, within the context of the larger work the material assumes more significance, representing substantial memories from Janáček’s youth. The composers on this recording have many indirect historical, biographical and musical relationships; most importantly, all of the works celebrate the spirit of the flute.

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Tanya Dušević Witek has been the recipient of many awards in North America, including The National Arts Club's Tilden Prize, a Fulbright Grant, the National Flute Association's Young Artists' Competition, a Sony ES Award for Excellence, the McGraw-Hill Company’s Robert Sherman Award and several Canada Council Grants. Ms. Witek has appeared at Marlboro Music, Mostly Mozart at Lincoln Center and The Banff Festival. She has toured the U.S. with the acclaimed "Musicians from Marlboro" ensemble and is heard on a commemorative recording celebrating the festival’s 50th anniversary. As principal flute of the New York Symphonic Ensemble and a regular guest artist with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, she has toured widely throughout Asia, Europe and the United States. Ms. Witek has appeared as soloist at many fine halls including Alice Tully Hall and Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center, Carnegie’s Weill Recital Hall, Kioi Hall in Tokyo, Izumi Hall in Osaka, and The Purcell Room in London. She has recorded for EMI, Bridge, Panasonic, CRI, and her performances have been broadcast on CBC Radio in Canada, Radio France, NHK in Japan, as well as WNPR and WNCN in New York. Deeply committed to educational outreach, she has introduced thousands of New York City public school children to classical music through her work as a Teaching Artist for the New York Philharmonic and Lincoln Center Institute. As a founding member of the Forest Hills Chamber Players, Ms. Witek performs free concerts in community venues in the outer boroughs of New York City. A native of Calgary, Canada, Ms. Witek was educated at The University of Calgary, The Banff Center, and she received her master and doctoral degrees from The Juilliard School. Her teachers have included Philippa Fullerton, Carol Wincenc and Samuel Baron.

Pianist Charles Foreman has been equally praised for his superb musicianship, formidable technique, vast repertoire, and imaginative programming. Foreman will begin Canada’s first complete cycle of the piano works of Chopin in 2006. He recently completed his first cycle of the thirty-two Beethoven sonatas, to sold-out houses and standing ovations. In 2001, Foreman concluded his "Sounds of a Century" project, ten recitals of twentieth-century piano music, one for each decade, which the Calgary Herald called "monumental…heroic… illuminating." Foreman made his debut with the Chicago Civic Orchestra under David Gilbert, playing the Brahms B-flat Concerto. He has won prizes in Canadian and U.S. piano competitions, received two Canada Council grants for study and performance in Europe, performed numerous times with orchestras, and played over five hundred solo and chamber recitals in Austria, Belgium, Germany, Holland, Spain, Switzerland, Canada, and the U.S. He has recorded over a dozen CDs for Unical, Antes Edition, Arktos and Centrediscs. A Chicago native and scholarship student of Rudolf Reuter at the American Conservatory, he holds degrees from Indiana University and the University of Toronto, where he studied with Abbey Simon and Anton Kuerti. A professor at the University of Calgary, he was a Visiting Scholar at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, in 2002.

BOHUSLAV MARTINŮ (1890-1959)
Scherzo (Divertimento) for Flute and Piano

ERWIN SCHULHOFF (1894-1942)
Sonata for Flute and Piano

CARL REINECKE (1824-1910)
Sonata "Undine," Opus 167

BOHUSLAV MARTINŮ
First Sonata

LEOŠ JANÁČEK (1854-1928)
Pochod Modráčků

MSR Classics