FRANCESCA ARNONE

• Koechlin: Les Chants de Nectaire - No.3: Jeux de la lumiere

“So lyrical are the melodies and so sensitive does Arnone render them that, although they span nearly six decades and represent French (Koechlin), Czechoslovakian (Willner), British (Alwyn), and Hungarian (Rozsa) sensibilities, they feel like birds of a feather. Oblivious to the terrestrial turmoil preoccupying their two-legged unfeathered friends, they soar, dip, plunge, and glide with improvisational freedom and grace. “
Arsenio Orteza, World [September 2014]
“[Koechlin's] miniatures are inspired —let there be no doubt!... [the Rozsa and Willner are given] fine and committed performances... [Francesca Arnone] has a full, singing tone that she employs with great variety and contrast. She moves smoothly across wide intervals, manages to make difficult notes speak well, and in general surpasses all the challenges posed by the writing. The sound is close, with just enough reverberation that it doesn’t seem dry. In the softer points in the playing, it comes across as very intimate.”
GORMAN, American Record Guide [July/August 2014] Hailed as “the light of the orchestra” by French composer Charles Koechlin, the flute has been a fortunate solo instrument noted by composers from around the world. While some composers on this recording sought clarity and courage to redefine themselves by writing for their own instrument, as with England’s William Alwyn, Arthur Willner was inspired to compose by a noted Dutch flutist performing in Vienna. Still, others turned to the flute as they consciously dedicated a compositional period to solo instrument works, namely Hungarian composer Miklós Rózsa and Koechlin. Ranging from contrasting colors to poignant lyricism to quasinationalism, these works offer a dramatic array of possibilities for the solo flute. Rarely played, it is time to shine light on this rich repertoire.

Francesca Arnone is an active flute and piccolo soloist, chamber musician, and clinician. An avid traveler, she enjoys pursuing this passion through music and has performed in Europe, Asia and the Americas, in such venues as St. Martin-in-the-Fields, Royal Northern College of Music, Royal Conservatory of Madrid, Split Academy of Music in Croatia, and Chicago Public Library. Currently flute professor at Baylor University, she is a member of the Brazos Ensemble, Baylor Wind Quintet, and Waco Symphony Orchestra. A veteran of regional and opera orchestras in the United States and Mexico, she has also been a concerto soloist on flute, alto flute, and piccolo, playing repertoire ranging from Bach to Chen Yi. She earned flute performance degrees from Oberlin Conservatory, San Francisco Conservatory, and the University of Miami, where she studied with Robert Willoughby, Julia Bogorad-Kogan, Tim Day and Christine Nield.

www.francescaarnone.com CHARLES KOECHLIN (1867-1950)
LES CHANTS DE NECTAIRE, OP.198 (selections)
No. 2 Naissance de la vie (Birth of life)
No. 3 Jeux de la lumière (Games of light)
No. 4 Clartés de l`Esprit (Clarity of spirit)
No. 5 Jeunesse du monde (Youth of the world)
No. 6 Les tranquilles clartés de l`Intelligence (The peaceful clarity of intellect)
No. 7 ... criblent de flèches l`Erreur et la Bêtise (…riddled with arrows..)
No. 8 Le Rire vainqueur (Conquering laughter)
No. 9 Gaîté de la lumière (Light’s cheerfulness)
No. 12 La Plainte humaine (The human complaint)
No. 13 La Nuit (The night)
No. 16 L’Amour (Love)
No. 19 Le Jardin des Muses (The garden of the Muses)
No. 25 L’Élan vers la Vie (Rush to life)
No. 26 “Le Désir qui crée les mondes” (The desire that created worlds)
No. 31 Gaîté du matin ensoleillé (Gaiety of a sunlit morning)

WILLIAM ALWYN (1905-1985)
DIVERTIMENTO FOR SOLO FLUTE
I. Introduction and Fughetta
II. Variations on a Ground
III. Gavotte and Musette
IV.Finale alla Gigue

MIKLÓS RÓZSA (1907-1995)
SONATA PER FLAUTO SOLO, OP.39
I. Allegro risoluto
II. Andante, quasi pastorale
III. Vivo e giocoso

ARTHUR WILLNER (1881-1959)
SONATE FÜR FLÖTE ALLEIN, OP.34
I. Lebhaft
II. Sehr langsam
III. Schnell
 



MSR Classics