Laurel Zucker & Mark Shapiro-The Dark Side of the Flute

Artist: Laurel Zucker & Mark Shapiro
Title: The Dark Side of the Flute
Genre: Classical
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Even in the world of classical, where the music and listeners are well educated and refined, you can find some humor in a serious world. Laurel Zucker (flute) and Marc Shapiro have united once again to record compositions that look at the darker side of music on The Dark Side of the Flute (a play on words with the Pink Floyd classic Dark Side of The Moon). As Laurel talks about in the liner notes, the flute is normally uplifting and bubbly; however looking at the darker places of the mind and the time and space that it inhabits is an entirely different way to use the instrument.

Zucker and Shapiro travel down the road of composers dating back to the 1700’s such as Christophe von Gluck. There are 13 tracks with two suites, tracks 3-7 and 9-11. The suites are the most impressive work as they take you through a story without words. Zucker’s flute carries with it emotion and the vicissitudes of life while Shapiro walks right alongside her, playing equally effective piano. The two instruments make musical interplay a joy to hear.

It has been a while since I explored the music of this renowned flutist and now I can renew my interest once again. There are four other recordings out now as well. Surely each one is quite different from the other and will challenge my imagination and heighten my senses. I enjoyed the pensive anticipation this music made me feel and the relaxing atmospheres suddenly changing to a faster pace and brooding mood. It all amounts to an amalgam of human emotions interpreted through beautiful classical music.

© Keith "MuzikMan" Hannaleck

October 15, 2006

Tracks:

01. Frank Martin - Ballade for flute and piano
02. Kent Kennan - Night Soliloquy for flute and piano
03. John Harbison-Duo for flute and piano- Fanfare
04. Harbison duo - lullaby
05. Harbison duo - Intermezzo
06. Harbison duo - Dithyramb
07. Harbison Duo - Sonata and Coda
08. Charles Griffes- Poem for flute and piano
09. Hans Werner Henze - Sonatine for flute and piano -Moderato
10. Henze - Sonatine -andantino
11. Henze -Sonatine -Presto
12. Laurel Zucker -Pandora's Box for solo flute
13. Christophe Gluck - Scene from Orpheus for flute and piano