Beyond the Iron Curtain: Flute Music by Martinu, Gubaidulina, Feld, Taktakishvili and Amirov

outstanding performance of little-known pieces

I bought this for the two Gubaidulina pieces, but ending up being engrossed in the entire album! Martinu and Gubaidulina are relatively well-known in mainstream circles, but the others were unknown to me. The highlight of the whole CD is the Feld piece, which is quite rousing and agitated. The Taktakishvili is slightly less interesting, but the Amirov pieces make it worth buying the disc alone. I have some of his other pieces, namely his symphonic muqams, but there is not a lot available and would like to see more recognition of his talents. The flautist here, Ms. Newman, is really amazing, as is her partner on piano, Amanda Hurton. I'd love to hear them play Prokofiev's flute sonata, or perhaps some Kuhlau! July 18, 2003

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