Pan flute recordings often include one or more carefully chosen arrangements of classical repertory pieces, but German player
Ulrich Herkenhoff, a student of the great
Gheorghe Zamfir, may be the first to attempt an entire classical recital with the instrument. (The closest approaches by
Zamfir himself were an album of Romantic melodies and a thoroughly bizarre set of improvisations for pan flutes and organ.) Does it work? Can it work? If anyone can make it work it is
Herkenhoff, who underwent conservatory training on transverse flute in support of his goal of being able to inspire remarks (from the booklet) praising the "mutual permeation of artificial and archaic, French-intellectual and Hellenic-mythic spheres" in his music. All the music is transcribed for pan flutes and piano, except for the final one. When he plays a Bach flute sonata at the beginning, it will be, for most listeners, a bit of a tough slog, but things pick up from there. A Hungarian arrangement of a two-movement Mozart flute sonata is charmingly innocent, and a certain latent primitivism in
Debussy's music is drawn out in
Herkenhoff's delightful playing (again the credit is due partly to the transcriptions, two of which are by his accompanist, Matthias Keller). Two pieces originally for violin and piano follow; the North Hungarian Peasant Songs and Dances, Op. 5, of
Miklós Rósza also connect in interesting ways with the folk evocations of the pan flutes and will intrigue fans of the composer's film music. The only original pan flute music on the program is at the end, and it is for pan flute solo: contemporary German composer Harald Genzmer, at the age of 84, heard
Herkenhoff performing and was moved to compose a piece for him to play; it is a rather dry study, but it does succeed in creating a bit of a modern language for the pan flute -- which seems to be the performer's goal -- and for those who like unique if quixotic goals, this disc will be of interest.