LAUREL ZUCKER IS AWARDED THE BEST ALBUM OF THE YEAR FOR THE BEST 2006 CLASSICAL INSTRUMENTAL SOLO ALBUM FROM THE JUST PLAIN FOLKS AWARDS 2006!!
Fantastic Complete Handel Flute Sonatas by award winning, Laurel Zucker, virtuoso flautist and the master himself, Robin Sutherland!!
The Complete G.F. Handel Flute Sonatas
Posted by MuzikMan on July 16, 2004 03:22 PM (See all posts by MuzikMan)
Filed under: Music
Artist: Laurel Zucker and Robin Sutherland
Title: The Complete G.F. Handel Flute Sonatas
Genre: Classical
Label: Cantilena Records
Website
\"Handel is the greatest composer who ever lived.
I would bare my head and kneel at his grave\"
-- L.v. Beethoven (1824).
Those are the words of the man considered the greatest composer of all, so it was a great compliment to receive for Handel. G.F. Handel was the complete 18th-century voyager, artist, and capitalist. Two modern day classical performers, the exquisite flute player Laurel Zucker and the skilled harpsichord player Robin Sutherland (pianist for the San Francisco Symphony); immortalize his work on The Complete G.F. Handel Flute Sonatas.
With each listen to the Sonatas (30 in total) presented on this breathtaking CD, I became more entranced and charmed with their elegance. To think for a moment of what went on in the mind of Handel to create such blissfulness, I cannot imagine the genius behind such fertile work. I was duly impressed with the nearly 70 minute long \"11-14 Sonata in e minor, Op. 1, No. 1,\" not only for the sheer length and complexity, but for the amazing wherewithal and utter talent of these two artists and their resiliency and energy to put together such a piece. I must also tip my hat to the engineer Donald Ososke, whose intensity is readily apparent on this session. It must have been an arduous task to put this recording together.
This is classical music at is very zenith of enjoyment and perfection, I can not say any more, in fact I will let you listen to what Laurel Zucker had to say about the performance...
When Robin Sutherland, a long- standing, respected, member of the San Francisco Symphony, and I decided to record the Handel Sonatas for Flute and Harpsichord I was delighted. These sonatas are core repertoire for all serious flute students and professionals. The opportunity to record with such an amazing artist, Robin, was so satisfying. We were able to ornament and improvise so naturally together in the Baroque style. We did not have to edit within any movement, and as a result the recording session at Cunningham Chapel in California, only took several hours to complete. The engineer, my friend, Donald Ososke, was brilliant to work with as well. He understood how to record the flute and harpsichord in a perfectly balanced manner, which is no easy task.
Keith \"MuzikMan\" Hannaleck
July 16, 2004
Rating-10/10
Gramophone issue December 2007 states \"Zucker shapes everything with lovely gradations of timbre and nuance, and her phrasing keeps the ear mesmerised.\" Laurel Zucker is described by Gramophone Magazine 2003 \"as polished and gratifying as Rampal and Galway. Zucker\'s interpretations are splendid all round. Her tone is airy and sweet, her virtuosity graceful.\"
In 2004 Gramophone \"strongly recommended\" The Complete Telemann Fantasies for Flute and The Complete J.S. Bach Flute Sonatas on Cantilena Records describing her performances as \"intelligent, naturally phrased
and highly musical with a rich sound beyond reproach.\" In the August 2003 book, Inspirational Stories from the World\'s Best Flute Players, Laurel Zucker is featured along with James Galway, Herbie Mann, Ian Andersen, and Julius Baker. Fanfare Magazine refers to Ms. Zucker \"as a forceful advocate for 20th century music,\" and when she was awarded the Aaron Copland Fund for Music from the American Music Center to record the 1998 Take a Walk on the Wilder Side-CD, Fanfare Magazine stated \"this disc fills an important niche in American Music as well as flute literature.\"
With 45 CD releases available on Cantilena Records, Ms. Zucker can be heard regularly on worldwide classical radio stations. She has performed many times in Carnegie Hall, Kennedy Center, Alice Tully Hall, Avery Fisher Hall, Mondavi Center, etc. As a concerto soloist she has been featured with the American Symphony Orch., Erkel Chamber Orch. of Budapest, The Orch. of NY The Gold Country Orch., Merced Symphony, Sacramento Philharmonic, The Arlington Symph. Orch., and toured with the Sumara Orch. of Russia. As an active chamber artist she has performed with the Marlboro Festival and Tour, Harvard Chamber Players, Music Fest of Arizona, Music in the Mountains, UC Davis Chamber Players,Wet Ink Festival and Chamber Music Alive! As a jazz flutist Jazz Now 2005 describes her performance as \"Laurel\'s flute cutting the still air with a deep-felt emotion to the very last note.\" Claude Bolling in March 2004 on Zucker\'s Bolling Jazz Suites CD writes \"Dear Laurel Zucker, Your recording is beautiful, musician partners are excellent and your flute playing superb!!!\" Of the Flute Music by French Composers CD, Sir James Galway recommends on his website \"This is a really good record and should be in the library of all serious students. The repertoire is very good and it is beautifully played by Miss Zucker. I have a copy and think it is outstanding...\"
As an active performer and supporter of the flute community, Ms. Zucker has been a guest performer/teacher at the New York Flute Club, The Portland Flute Society, The Houston Flute Society, LA Flute Club, Dallas Flute Festival, North Carolina School of the Arts and the National Flute Association Convention. In 2000 The Year of the Rome Aureole Jubilee (hosted by the City of Rome and the Pope) three of Ms. Zucker\'s Cantilena Records CDs (Serenades; Music of Guiliani for Flute and Guitar; Mozart Flute Quartets CDs) were played non-stop for six months throughout the largest Convention Center of Rome, Italy and were also featured in a documentary created at UCLA on the Santa Maria Maggiora Chapel of Rome.
November 2007, Laurel Zucker and Mark Delpriora were presented with
THE GOLD ARTIST AWARD from RadioIndy
for their 2007 CD, Masterpieces for Flute and Guitar.
In 2006 Ms. Zucker received
THE BEST CLASSICAL SOLO INSTRUMENTAL ALBUM OF THE YEAR 2006 from The Just Plain Folks Awards.
As Professor of Flute at California State Univ., Sacramento since 1988,
Ms. Zucker received the 1998 President\'s Award for Creative and Scholarly Research, 1998 and 2000 Creative Research Awards, a
nd 1989 Professional Promise Award.
In 1978 she won Artists International Competition and gave her Carnegie Recital Hall Debut. Her first performances in Carnegie Hall and Kennedy Center
were at the age of 16 performing 1st flute in the Alexander Schneider\'s Orchestra.
Ms. Zucker graduated from Juilliard where she studied with
Samuel Baron for 3 years; with Paula Robison for two years at New England Conservatory of Music; and privately with Marcel Moyse and Julius Baker.
Ms. Zucker holds a Masters in Music Composition from New York University.
Her compositions are published by Lyra International and
Bourne Music Company and are recorded on Cantilena Records.
In 2008 a new website www.laurelzuckermasterclass.com was launched
providing a new DVD series of flute masterclasses lead by Ms. Zucker.
Read more...