FLUTE MAGAZINE:
Paul Taffanel's influence on the flute is a matter of received knowledge: his teaching has informed generation after generation of flute players and his own music has become standard repertoire. It is generally accepted that he influenced many composers to look afresh at the flute's capabilities. This splendid new three-CD set shows new sides to Taffanel's art. Kenneth Smith, that most musicianly of flute players, with his excellent partner Paul Rhodes, has selected three programmes of works associated with Taffanel. It is difficult to overstate the importance, never mind the delicious enjoyability, of this collection. Kenneth Smith's virtuosity and glorious sound are put to the best use, and Paul Rhodes, shows himself to be an ideal chamber music partner.

The first CD begins with a stunning performance of Taffanel's Freyschütz fantasy and includes ravishing performances of Taffanel's arrangements of the famous Gluck Dance of the Blessed Spirits and of a Chopin nocturne, along with Reinecke's Sonate Undine, some of Taffanel's own sightreading pieces, the Fauré Fantaisie, the Saint-Saëns Romance and a few other small pieces.

The second CD is full of surprises, including a Suite for flute and piano by the Vicomtesse Clémence de Grandval, whose aristocratic background did not prevent her from producing a charming twenty-two minute work that should be better known. There are smaller works, equally worthy and equally forgotten, by Émile Bernard, François Borne, Charles-Edouard Lefèbvre and Louis Reynaud. The biggest surprise of this collection is an astonishing twenty-two minute Sonata by Charles-Wilfred de Bériot (1833-1914). At this point I must force myself not to digress, for de Bériot's Sonata is a huge, powerful, romantic work. How has music like this been allowed to slip from the repertoire?

The third CD is full of more surprises, including Albert Doyen's Poèmes grecs and romances by Alfred Bruneau, Jacques Durand and Camille Saint-Saëns. There is an excellent (and, as a rare surprise) tasteful performance of Doppler's Fantaisie pastorale hongroise and a brilliant performance of the the Widor Suite . The disc ends with (and I am running out of superlatives) a ravishing performance of an arrangement by Taffanel of one of Mendelssohn's Songs without words . Flute playing does not get any better than this. For me, this is the recording of the year.
Robert Bigio

FANFARE:
This massive undertaking –and make no mistake, a three-CD set of nothing but piano-accompanied flute playing is a massive undertaking in today's market, where flash and ephemera masquerade as art – is simply a mind-boggling act of selfless dedication from the Philharmonia Orchestra's principal flutist since 1983, Kenneth Smith. I've been familiar with Paul Taffanel's gorgeous wind quintet (recorded in the early 1960's by the New York Wind Ensemble, among others), but until receiving this set for review I had no idea that he was to the flute what Kreisler was to the violin or Cortot to the piano, a pioneer who took his instrument out of the realm of merely flashy virtuoso showpieces and made it a warm, expressive instrument, worthy of the very finest music one could write for it. And write they did, not only fellow-flautist Georges Barrère or noted composers, such as Reinecke, Saint-Saëns, Durand, Mouquet, Grandval, but even the organist Charles-Marie Widor. They all recognized Taffenel as a musical genius, not only a great technician, but a highly expressive player who exalted his instrument.

One reason I consider this project to be not only massive but daring is that, unless your name is Jean-Pierre Rampal or James Galway, your chances of getting three full CDs of your playing issued nowadays are slim and none (and, as they say, slim just left town). Comparisons may be odious (though I, for one, don't subscribe to that theory), but the fact remains that unless one is a very serious student of the flute one is unlikely to have heard of Smith or be willing to spend money on a set like this in order to hear a great deal of obscure flute works accompanied by a piano for nearly four hours.

But, by golly, Smith keeps you hooked through the whole set. His tone is warm and ingratiating, his technique deceptively flawless (he doesn't dazzle you except in two or three pieces, but he's so good that you never notice all the hard work that went into it), and his style thoroughly apropos for the era. As he himself says, he approached these works in the spirit of late 19 th –century musicianship, which at that time meant a great deal of rubato or, as Smith puts it, “performances that could seem rather indulgent to current musical taste.”But he s true to his vision, so much so that his performance of the long flute solo in Gluck's Dance of the Blessed Spirits can be favorably compared to that of the legendary John Amans in his 1929 recordings of the piece with the New York Philharmonic.

As can be imagined, none of these works are harmonically advanced – Debussy was still a young composer when Taffanel wound down his career in the early 1890s – and there are a lot of Romances and Nocturnes here, but none of the music is trash by any definition. These are very well-written pieces, tonal and romantic to be sure, but not in any way embarrassing to their composers. Taffanel's own transcription of highlights from Weber's Le Freyschütz compares favorably with Sarasate's Carmen fantasy, certainly not an inconsequential piece in itself, and in the longer works (Doyen's Poèmes Grecs, Grandval's suite, and the sonatas by Reinecke and Widor), there is real imagination at work. The music here covers the entire range of the instrument, from top to bottom, but again, it does not do so in a flashy or superficial manner.

Smith is, quite simply, a superb flutist, and I sincerely hope that this set brings him some solo-concert recognition. Even though he has recorded the Mozart flute with the Philharmonia, Vivaldi concerti with the London Musici, and Bach's Brandenburg Concerto No. 2 with Maurice André and the Philharmonia, he's certainly not a household name. Perhaps this set will help . Accompanist Paul Rhodes should not by any means be slighted for his contribution to this set. His consistently lively yet warm playing is the perfect partner for Smith's flute. With a lesser pianist, there is no way that Smith, or the music, makes as strong of an impression. You may not want to listen to all three CDs, as I did when reviewing, in one sitting, but I guarantee that you'll want to hear “what comes next”. It's that kind of set.
Lynn René Bayley

MUSIC WEB (recording of the Month November 2010):
Theobald Boehm revolutionised the flute with his invention of an instrument in which the holes were placed where they needed to be for acoustic reasons. In essence earlier instruments had holes placed in places convenient for the fingers, requiring cross fingering and the adjustment of individual notes to enable them be played in tune. His further development of cylindrical rather than conical cross-section led to the popularity of metal instruments.
 
Paul Taffanel (1844-1908) was a French flautist who took advantage of the capabilities of the new instrument to create what was in effect a whole new school of playing, and a new, more liquid and expressive sound. Nowadays this French school is almost universal but comparisons of early recordings show that only a century ago there still existed distinct English and German schools. It was largely the influence of Taffanel's playing and of his many pupils, including Marcel Moyse, arguably the greatest flautist of the twentieth century, that led to this dominance by the French. I love the distinctive sounds of orchestras in the early twentieth century but listening to Moyse's many recordings and to these discs it is easy to understand the attraction to modern players of the sheer beauty of sound and eloquence of the French approach.
 
As far as I am aware this is the first time that a determined effort has been made on disc to examine thoroughly music directly associated with Taffanel. Although he wrote much for teaching, the only wholly original material actually composed by him here is a set of three pieces intended as tests for sight-reading. They are brief and would surely achieve their main aim, but unusually they are entertaining for the listener. In addition by Taffanel himself there are a Fantasie on themes from “Der Freischütz” and transcriptions of music by Chopin and Saint-Saëns. These are all especially suited to the kind of expressive variations of tone to which Taffanel aspired. The former shows the kind of fluency of technique which composers for the instrument expected and exploited.
 
Although there are a few familiar names and works elsewhere on these discs, including Reinecke's delightful “Undine” Sonata, Doppler's “Fantasie Pastorale Hongroise” and Widor's Suite, the majority are likely to be unfamiliar, certainly to most musicians but even to many flautists. There is nonetheless immense pleasure to be obtained here. The most striking thing is the sheer expertise with which these pieces are composed. Even if musically some may seem to lack originality or to have little to say, they say it so well and with such engaging craftsmanship that the listener is willing to forgive them. This applies to many of the works on the second disc in particular. The dedicated efforts of Kenneth Smith and Paul Rhodes here as elsewhere present the music at its best. Admittedly it would be unwise to listen to too much of this at once as a certain sameness does become all too apparent. Similarly I should note that for all his undoubted virtuosity and beauty of tone, Kenneth Smith lacks the variety of tone colour of Marcel Moyse - but then, so do most flautists. Incidentally no recordings exist of Taffanel himself.
 
This set would be worthwhile having for the rarity and interest of its contents alone. It is made an essential purchase for flautists or anyone with a particular interest in French music of the late nineteenth century by the superb booklet. This has full notes on each work (in English, French and German) and its composer, and in addition some fascinating photographs of Taffanel. It's a pity they are not reproduced in a larger format, especially that of him demonstrating his embouchure. It would be a mistake to claim that these discs contained music of great importance or, in general, depth, but what the many works here do have is charm, craftsmanship and a special kind of poetic feeling that was suited to Taffanel's art. When in addition it is all beautifully played, recorded and presented you have a set which surely must be a candidate for an ideal Christmas present for any music-lover whatever their usual musical interests.
John Sheppard 

TEMPO (FRANCE):
A major publication, this set recalls the diversity, the extent and the strength of Paul Taffanel's heritage, unequalled to this day, bringing together in three CDs the different aspects of Taffanel the composer, the arranger and propagator (volume 1: Vision ), the dedicatee (volume 2: Dedication ), and as inspirer, creator and master (volume 3: Imagination ). A whole world is brought together here which brings up some surprises and some premières, for example in the second volume which puts together the luminous Sonata by Charles de Bériot, the Suite by Clémence de Granval – see the Selection of Scores , p.59 – (more than twenty minutes each), the exquisite Deux pièces of Charles-Edouard Lefebvre and some rarities like the Nocturne of Louis Reynaud, the Ballade et danse des lutins of Francois Borne and the Romance of Emile Bernard.

The works more readily associated with Paul Taffanel – the Sonata of Carl Reinecke or the Fantasie pastorale hongroise of Franz Doppler – are full of the same charm which confers on this boxed set a certain uniqueness. Clearly the two artists have tried throughout the whole programme to imagine the sound-world of Paul Taffanel with respect and precision, moving away if thought necessary from current styles of interpretation. The relevance, the illustrations and the quality of the accompanying booklet extends the tribute. Kenneth Smith whose reputation has been established for a long time outside France where he is still too little known has participated in more than five hundred recordings with the Philharmonia Orchestra of London, of which he has been solo flute since 1983, and has recorded twelve discs with the pianist Paul Rhodes.
Pascal Gresset (translation: Paul Rhodes)

MUSICWEB (2):
This set of three discs incorporates repertoire which was performed or composed by Paul Taffanel. Taffanel was one of the leading flautists of the renowned French School, which developed a style of playing which has influenced flute playing on an international scale. His contribution to flute history was remarkable, and it is appropriate that these works should be brought together in a boxed set. The discs are entitled Vision, Dedication and Imagination, and each covers a different aspect of Taffanel's musical legacy.
 
Volume 1, Vision - This opens with one of Taffanel 's best known compositions, the Fantasie on Der Freischutz by Weber . Ken Smith's silky flute tone immediately grabs the attention. This, combined with the sensitive piano playing of Paul Rhodes, makes for an excellent duo. Overall the tempos in the opening sections are well controlled, and the players resist the temptation to rush through the fast sections, instead finding musical space and charm in the phrases. There is never a sense that this is merely technical display, as is sometimes the case with performances of this piece.
 
Gluck's Dance of the Blessed Spirits is played with similar levels of sensitivity, and it is in the simplicity of these musical lines where this duo really shines; simple music is difficult to execute well, and this is one of the most musically satisfying performances of this piece that I have heard. Reinecke's Undine Sonata follows, played gently and with a sense of flow. Moments of drama are heard in juxtaposition with some well shaped phrases, and the flute line is complemented well by the beautifully played piano part.
 
Taffanel 's transcription of Chopin's F sharp major Nocturne demonstrates the composer's skill of orchestration, while his beautiful sight-reading pieces, Morceaux de lecture a vue demonstrate charm and elegance in abundance. Alphonse Catherine 's enjoyable Nocturne features some beautiful lyrical lines, while Fauré 's well known Sicilienne is heard here with a sense of lightness and direction. Two other Fauré works feature here, the Morceau de Concours , commissioned by Taffanel as a sight-reading test at the Paris Conservatoire, and the Fantaisie , which was written as one of the first in a long tradition of examination pieces.
 
Two further salon pieces bring the first disc to a close, Mouquet 's Divertissements Grecs , which is played with warmth and a wonderfully singing tone, and Saint-Saëns ' op. 51 Romance , transcribed by Taffanel.
 
Volume 2 Dedication - contains a selection of much less well-known pieces which were all composed for Taffanel. Clémence de Grandval 's Suite opens with a Prelude, with a simple flute line accompanied by a flowing piano part. The second movement is a playful Scherzo with an enjoyable dialogue between the parts. The remaining movements demonstrate both considerable melodic interest and the flute's range of tone colours - two aspects of the French flute school which have helped to characterise the style.
 
Emile Bernard was a contemporary of Taffanel's, who is probably best known for his wind ensemble piece, Divertissement , which was also commissioned by Taffanel. This Romance was originally composed for flute and orchestra but also exists with a piano reduction. Its style is typical of the period, with lyrical lines interspersed with moments of drama. This is a thoroughly enjoyable piece, played well in this recording.
 
François Borne 's contribution to the flute repertoire remains most notably in the Carmen Fantasie ; it is interesting to hear one of his other flute works recorded here. The Ballade et Danse des Lutins is a slow-fast work with a wonderful sense of character and an expansive and expressive opening section. The dance has beautifully swirling melodies, and a sense of light-hearted drama.
 
Concert pieces by Lefèbvre and Reynaud follow; delightful pieces within the style of the time, with slow episodes featuring simple and effective melodic lines and gently undulating accompaniments. The faster sections have a dancing character and more of a sense of interjection between flute and piano.
 
The disc ends with Charles-Wilfred Bériot 's Sonata , which is a three movement work of reasonably substantial proportions. Taffanel performed this piece many times. It is a well-composed work with a good sense of structure and considered harmonies. The second movement is particularly enticing, with a beautiful slow opening followed by a joyful scherzo.
 
Volume 3 - Imagination - The final disc of the set begins with Barrère 's beguiling Nocturne . Barrère was a Taffanel pupil who spent some time in New York and was one of the main protagonists in disseminating the French style of flute playing in America. This is a calm and beautiful piece, which is performed well here. Albert Doyen 's Poèmes Grecs are a set of five short pieces for flute and piano. These are impressionistic and conjure up a sense of atmosphere. One can almost imagine a set of paintings depicting the individual movements.
 
Romances follow by Alfred Bruneau and Jacques Durand , before the second of two complete recital programmes begins with Doppler 's popular Fantasie Pastorale Hongroise (Hungarian Pastoral Fantasy). The opening here is not rushed, and is played with a sense of control and a hint of nostalgia. The cadenzas are understated and this performance lacks an overlay of ego from either of the performers. A sense of drama remains, however, and the latter sections of the piece have both drive and energy without losing musicality. Saint-Saëns ' beautiful Romance follows, with Smith's even-toned flute line sensitively accompanied by Rhodes' flowing accompaniment. This is an excellent rendition, which captures the sentiment of Saint-Saëns' music very well.
 
Widor 's Suite is one of the better known works on this disc, and was written for Taffanel. Demonstrating a range of moods and colours, this four movement piece lasts for almost twenty minutes. This well-controlled performance captures the atmosphere well and has much to offer, with quality playing from both members of the duo, and a good sense of partnership.
 
The disc ends with a gentle Contemplation by Mendelssohn , which has a beautiful song-like style and lyrical phrases.
 
Overall, this is an enjoyable set of discs. It is perhaps curious that there were no musical examples of the works of Philippe Gaubert, who was Taffanel's colleague and co-author of a method book for the flute. Nevertheless, it was interesting to hear this range of well- and less-known pieces from an important era in the flute's history. Kenneth Smith's wonderful tone and range of colours is the highlight of the recording, and the musicianship demonstrated by the two artists was a pleasure to experience. If I were to make a criticism, it would be that three discs of fairly similar repertoire did not allow for much contrast, especially in terms of drama and dynamic range, and some of the works, although enjoyable, are not especially memorable. That said, however, this is an excellent document of Taffanel's legacy and has much that is worthy of praise.
Carla Rees

NEW CLASSICS:
The French flautist, conductor and inspirational teacher Paul Taffanel started learning the flute from his father at the age of nine and gave his first concert aged just ten. After studying at the Paris Conservatoire - where he would later become a professor himself - he enjoyed a successful career as both soloist and orchestral player, becoming known as the outstanding flute player of his time and establishing the instrument in the mainstream of music. In addition to teaching, Taffanel was a fine opera and orchestra conductor, directing French premieres of several Wagner operas and Verdi's Otello at the Paris Opéra. At the Societe des Concerts he championed Camille Saint-Saëns and other contemporary French composers and gave the world premiere of Verdi's Quattro Pezzi Sacri. He also founded the Société de musique de chambre pour instruments à vent (Society of Chamber Music for Wind Instruments) and was a fluent composer for the flute and wind quintet. He suffered from a physical breakdown in 1901, perhaps caused by overwork, and died in Paris on November 22, 1908.

Elegance, expressiveness and sensitivity marked Taffanel's artistry, and the same qualities can be found in this 3-CD set of recordings by one of Britain's leading flute players, Kenneth Smith. Most of these works were written and performed during Paul Taffanel's lifetime, several being written especially for him, and some appeared regularly in his own recital programmes. Having lain dormant for too long, some of these imaginative compositions are recorded for the first time revealing, to ‘modern' ears, a rich treasury of music which typifies much of the music heard in the chamber music salons and concert halls of Paris at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. This tribute to the Taffanel's legacy opens and concludes with some of his favourite works programmed as two recitals in a way that he himself might have presented them. Rather than trying to emulate Taffanel's sound, the recordings aim primarily to shed more light on the influence of a remarkable musician and to introduce these interesting and often beautiful pieces to the attention of flute players of today. Kenneth Smith is accompanied on piano by the excellent Paul Rhodes, a musical partnership now almost in its twentieth year.
John Pitts

MIDWEST RECORD:
We like this duo since they have a knack for making two instruments fill the room with sound.  Paying tribute to a popular performer that had all sort of composing royalty writing for him, he was at his best before recording had begun and except for the efforts of duos like this, he might be needlessly forgotten.  A three cd set divided by themes, this set of mostly world premiere recordings is a real treat for chamber music fans.  With each disc packed to the gills with music, there's plenty here that's loaded with deceptively simple chops and charm.  A tasty collection from stem to stern.
Chris Spector

UK REGIONAL PRESS:
This splendid new 3CD set from flautist Kenneth Smith and pianist Paul Rhodes explores the musical landscapes created by Paul Taffanel. This Bordeaux-born composer and musician revitalised the world of the flute during the Victorian era, breathing new life into the repertoire by commissioning new works from many of the leading musical figures of the day. Many of these unjustly neglected pieces make a welcome reappearance here alongside some perennial favourites from the pens of Gluck and Saint-Saens.
Kevin Bryan