Reviews for new album by extraordinary flautist, Sally Walker:
Boccherini: Chamber works for Flute (AVIE Records, UK)
Released on Friday 16 August, 2024 on avie-records.com
Pre-order/ stream/ download the album here
Internationally acclaimed Australian flautist and educator Dr Sally Walker premiered her new album with selected works to be performed at the Sydney Opera House, North Adelaide Baroque Concert Hall and Wesley Uniting Church Canberra in September, 2024, alongside violinists Dr Elizabeth Layton (Head of Classical Performance, Elder Conservatorium SA) and Alison Rayner (Adelaide Baroque); violist Stephen King (formerly ASQ, ACO), cellist Thomas Marlin (Alma Moodie Quartet), bassist Robert Nairn (Elder Conservatorium), oboist Celia Craig (Creative Arts Fellow – National Library of Australia, Honorary Associate of Royal Academy of Music), Mark Gaydon (ASO Principal Bassoon) and Sarah Barrett (ASO Assoc. Principal Horn).
Recorded in 2023 in the opulent North Adelaide Baroque Hall, this double disc album has earned strong reviews from BBC Music Magazine, The Australian, Limelight and more:
“The works of Italian-Spanish composer Luigi Boccherini are synonymous with the most stylish features of late 18th-century music, often ornamented with exquisite but purposeful filigree. Best known these days for his works for the cello, his own instrument, Boccherini also composed some deal of music for the flute. Canberra-based performer and scholar Sally Walker has assembled some eight chamber works around the flute, totalling almost 100 minutes spread across a double album. All were recorded in the sparkling acoustics of the new Baroque Hall in North Adelaide in January 2023. The result is sheer delight. This music bustles along, prancing and dancing with poise and vigour. The performances of Walker and her octet are almost intoxicating in vitality and absolute unanimity, alternating between refined elegance, intimate beauty and occasional cheekiness. A favourite composer of mine for decades, Boccherini binds the rococo and the early classical, and could do with a revival in this country. Walker’s enthusiasm and her inspirational performances would be a welcome start to that.”
[4.5/5 stars]
– Vincent Plush, The Australian (album review, October 2024)
“In this recording, Australian flautist Sally Walker and other star instrumentalists explore the expressive depths of Boccherini’s chamber works. Walker’s boldness,already in evidence on two earlier albums, gives emotional depth to music that is often played too prettily. Walker’s programme contrasts the two poles of Boccherini’s career: the international virtuoso-composer of the 1770s who wrote the Op. 19 flute quintets, and the wistful genius of the 1780s who wrote a sextet and perhaps also the trio Walker includes. In his Op. 19 quintets Boccherini re-invented a type of string quartet fashionable in Paris, the quatuor concertant, adding a precocious flute to its two-movement, melodically led form. Walker clearly relishes this part, tinging her allegro melodies with dancing arabesques that fill her line with an impish, infectious humour. In adagio movements,she introduces vibrato and additions at just the right moment for the music to peak emotionally. And she yields instantly to fellow players where needed, as in the first movement of No. 3, in which she deftly exchanges musical ideas with another instrument or causes her part to fade out within a delicately pulsing chordal texture. Walker and her friends collectively recognise Boccherini’s sextet for what it is: a one-to-a-part symphony of strings, flute, bassoon and horn. Their imagination and suave command show us Boccherini the aspiring orchestrator – for instance in the Andante, where their brooding lyricism conveys the ambition with which Boccherini wielded the new expressive gestures of the 1780s even while remaining stuck at the Spanish court.” [5 stars – performance]
– Berta Joncus, BBC Music Magazine (album review, September 2024)
“this music instantly brings happiness to the listener with its brightness and joy. …
In terms of sound quality, this quintet [Walker, Layton, Raynor, King, Marlin] is outstanding in anyone’s language. Their execution of every note and their subtlety and handling of dynamics and timing was impeccable. Walker, who moves to the music, added a vibrancy on top of the string quartet. Even though there were many similar lines for flute and strings, she stood out with her clear tonal presence. … expression and sensitivity cut through.
… Each one like a miniature universe, Walker and Friends created a memorable concert of music that will be long remembered and maybe, it might even create a revival of Boccherini’s woodwind music.” [4.5 stars]
– Rob Kennedy, Limelight Magazine (live review, September 2024)
“This is, above all, sociable music, and the key to getting it right is a spirit of geniality. Boccherini happily stays within the confines of established chamber music norms of the time, and does so with charm, but he always offers something a bit adventurous and different. Just when things are sailing along smoothly, he will throw in a completely odd idea just to surprise and delight the listener. What particularly impresses is these musicians’ enlivened, sparky approach… They also know how to maintain an exceptionally tight ensemble…. Walker’s playing is to be savoured: it is soft-toned, exquisitely judged in phrasing, and very natural stylistically. … The delights just keep coming”
– Graham Strahle, 5MBS (album review, September 2024)
Read the Album and launch tour Media Release with links: here.