Giovanni Battista Barbirolli (1899-1970)
Concerto in F Major on a theme by Arcangelo Corelli (1653-1713)
Preludio – Allemanda – Sarabanda – Gavotta – Giga

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)
Siciliano from Sonate Nr. 2
for Flute & Basso Continuo BWV 1031
(arranged by M. Keller)

César Franck (1822-1890)
Prélude, Fugue et Variation opus 18
a transcription for Pan Flute and Organ
(arranged by M. Keller)

Ennio Morricone (born 1928)
Cockeye's Song
from the film "Once Upon a Time in America"
(arranged by M. Keller)

Ulrich Herkenhoff (born 1966)
Suita Macedonia
Suite on themes in the Macedonian style
Ballade – Chanson – Danse

Georg Ph. Telemann (1681-1767)
Sonate A minor for Oboe & Basso Continuo
Andante (siziliano) – Spirituoso – Andante – Vivace

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)
Andante for Flute in C Major, KV 315

Béla Bartók (1881-1945)
Three dances from Gyergyó

Rumänische Doina (Banat)
Sus pe culmea dealului
(arranged by Zamfir/Cellier)

Rumänische Suite
Doina lui fanica luca - au plecat olteni la coasa -
geampara lui marcel budala
(arranged by Herkenhoff/Cellier)

A delightful introduction to the possibilities of the Pan Pipe as a serious concert instrument, placing this musician in the august company of such as Casals, Segovia and Larry Adler!

Ulrich Herkenhoff is a renowned German virtuoso on an instrument more usually associated with South America. He has composed and commissioned many new works, and makes himself the instruments he plays (as does the Indian flutist Hariprasad Chaurasia).

The pan pipe has a pleasing breathy tone, but in this player's hands it is capable of a range of colour and expression that makes for a satisfying duologue with his long term organist colleague, Matthias Keller, with whom rhythmic rapport is exemplary.

Mozart's lovely Andante goes particularly well on the panpipe, and sports an elaborate cadenza by Herkenhoff before the end. I used to enjoy playing it on treble recorder and, to fill a perceived gap in the recorder repertoire, I have arranged his violin sonata K570 for the same instrument - soon to be published by "Recorder Music Mail". It would sound great on pan pipe, ideally with fortepiano, as would Ulrich Herkenhoff's selections of Bach & Telemann.

Keller plays the fugue at the centre of the Franck work, originally for organ, on his own, Herkenhoff increasing the expressivity of the Prélude and Variation which frame it.

This is a captivating CD and I have only one tiny reservation about the playing, Herkenhoff's tendency to - only occasionally - give less attention to the ends of notes and phrases than to their beginnings. Also, the lack of track timings may be off-putting to radio producers for whom this CD might otherwise be very appealing.

I hope Ulrich Herkenhoff may be persuaded to record a whole programme of baroque chamber music with authentic fortepiano and gamba continuo?

Foto: Catherine Cellier