Syrinx - CD

This new recording presents Liselotte Rokyta on panpipes and Eliška Novotná on piano in music by Béla Bartók, Claude Debussy, Arthur Honegger, André Caplet, Olivier Messiaen, Ciprian Porumbescu and Edgard Varèse. The programme includes Bartók’s Romanian Folk Dances, Debussy’s Clair de lune, Passepied, Rêverie and Syrinx, Honegger’s Danse de la chèvre, Caplet’s Rêverie and Petite valse, Messiaen’s L’ange aux parfums and Subtilité des corps glorieux, Porumbescu’s Hora Prahova and Hora detrunchiaţilor, and Varèse’s Density 21.5. Panpipes are among humanity’s oldest musical instruments and are documented in many ancient cultures. Their perfected form is now especially associated with Romanian folk music, whose virtuosos made the instrument famous in the second half of the twentieth century. Liselotte Rokyta studied with four teachers from this celebrated tradition and also learned authentic panpipe playing from folk musicians during several journeys to Romania. This recording demonstrates that panpipes also have a rightful place in classical music. Bartók’s and Porumbescu’s works are arrangements of Romanian folk dances, while Debussy’s Syrinx, originally composed for transverse flute, finds an equally compelling version on the panpipes. The other arrangements draw on works by French composers of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, originally written for flute, piano or organ, offering the enchanting voice of the nymph Syrinx a place in the world of classical music.