News & Reviews
Trinidad Suite for Flute and Viola published by Cayambis Music Press
HERE IS THE LINK to PURCHASE this music Cayambis Music Press
Steve Marsh, reviewer of Guitar Magazine, enthusiastically describes Zucker’s compositions in the 2012 CD, “Soundscapes of the Americas” in this way: Zucker performs with tremendous authority and musicianship and plays with enviable ease. She also illustrates here that she is a composer of note; there is nothing here which drops below superb. The extensive and interesting programme notes provided by the renowned flautist, Laurel Zucker, tell of her extensive travelling through North, Central and South America and the works on this disc reflect these explorations through a programme of descriptive, expressive and very enjoyable compositions. Shades of Villa-lobos dwell in parts of the opening track “Brazilian Sounds” scored for flute, guitar and cello, and this influence spills over into “Tears of the Amazon.” The natural world was the stimulation behind the enchanting “Celtic Snowflakes,” where the harp is highly suggestive of gentle snowflakes, and the tallest flying bird native to South and Central America, “The Jabiru” has a complete 3 movement suite for flute and cello dedicated to it. Capybaras, caimen and spider monkeys are musically depicted here. The longest work is the 5 movement South American Suite for flute and guitar. The inspiration here comes from forestry, an anaconda and the excitement felt by the composer travelling through such hostile territory- a “makes you jump moment” comes at the conclusion of movement 3 which features the flute technique called “jet whistle” – yet another nod in the direction of Villa-lobos who wrote a work for flute and cello titled after this technique.
TANGO for flute and harp
Available Summer 2014
FLUTE NETWORK JULY/AUGUST 2008 REVIEW!
“Flute Network Recommends….Inflorescence III- Music for Solo Flute performed by Laurel Zucker. A two CD package released on Cantilena Records 66042-2
This the third set of recordings of unaccompanied flute solos produced by Zucker and she has outdone herself… again! An “inflorescence” is a characteristic arrangement of flowers on a stemor a flower cluster, and this is indeed, a profuse flowering. As she explores further afield from the standard repertoire, Zucker has turned up some very special new solo pieces by major contemporary composers, including Philip Glass’, Arabesque in Memorium for solo flute; Jack Perla’s Partita for Solo Flute; Daniel Dorff’s August Idyll for Solo flute; Bruce Lazarus’s Far corners for Solo flute; Marius Flothuis’ Aude and Picolla Fantasia; Harald Genzmer’s Pan for Solo Flute; William Jay Sydeman’s For Solo Flute; Roberto Sierra’s Mariposas for Solo Flute; David Kechley’s Summers Passing In Memorium Jerilee Taverniti Kechley; and Laurel Zucker’s own delightful Dog Toy Suite as well as some less familiar older works that deserve more performances: Anton Stamitz’ Eight Caprices for Flute; J.J. Quantz’ Caprices and Fantasies for Flute; Savario Mercadante’s Sonata No. 1 in E minor, Sonata No. 2 in F and Sonata No. 3 in E minor; Arcangelo Corelli’s La Folia Variations.”
FLUTE NETWORK JULY/AUGUST 2008 REVIEW:
“Free Sheet Music To Download! We frequently praise Laurel Zucker for her virtuostic playing, elegant and expressive musicality, and well-produced recordings, but we also want to note her service to the flute community in posting on her website a number of fine works that can not be found elsewhere.
In addition to the full score of her Dog Toy Suite mentioned above, she makes available on-line her original cadenzas for the Mozart Concertos in G and D, and the flute and guitar score to Victor Frost’s Nuyoricano Tango which she recently recorded.
In addition she shares with us three of her earlier etudes for solo flute: Aviary, Effect Out, and LookOut- for a long time now Zucker has been writing the sort of thing that Ian Clarke has made his reputation on in the last several years.
Finally Laurel Zucker has done the flute world a real favor by making available as free downloadable PDFs files for printing performance copies of Kuhlau’s long lost Three Duets for Two Flutes, Opus 80 and 81
( Be sure to load up your printer and check your ink cartridge before attempting to print these Kuhlau Duets: Opus 80 is 46 pages long and Opus 81 is 43 pages).
She has also recorded these duets on a CD with Renee Siebert.
Thank you, Laurel, for your generosity, superb performances,and fine compositions! You will find links to these treasures at https://www.laurelzucker.com/”
J.Pritchard
LEN MULLENGER-MUSIC WEB INTERNATIONAL JULY 2008 REVIEWS
Laurel Zucker’s Cantilena label has been prolifically productive and all the more welcome for the warm music-making of Zucker and her instrumental partners. From its considerable catalogue here are three discs each pairing Zucker’s flute with one other instrument. All Cantilena issues feature strikingly coloured cover art by Dee Sanchez and all use heavy card sleeves with a glued in plastic stem face into which the disc is fitted. The sleeves carry concise information about the music and the composers and are miracles of good design which balance pleasure for the eye with the legibility necessary to carry information.
Sonata da Camera
Roberto Sierra (b. 1953) wrote his set of ten miniatures, Flower Pieces in 1994. They are short warm and sensuous. Everything breathes a warm and fragrant beauty. A Puerto Rican who studied with Ligeti, Sierra’s music is in this case sensuous and melodic – a near cousin to Ravel’s Introduction and Allegro. Alwyn’s Naiades is designated a Fantasy-Sonata and its ecstatic light-bathed warmth, a degree more sultry than the Sierra, is evidence of Alwyn’s grounding as a professional flautist. Zucker shows the ability to hold wondrously long notes with seemingly endless breath reserves and little aural evidence of gasps of breath. Nuncio F Mondello was better known in America’s jazz band circuit as Toots Mondello. His pensively melancholic Poem shows Mondello’s other face as a classical composer in the warm Ravelian tradition. Marius Flothuis wrote his Sonata da Camera in a Dutch concentration camp in 1943. Its movements are by turns dreamy-warm, slyly jazzy, slow motion Havanaise and evening whimsy. David Noon was a pupil of Davidovsky and Milhaud and has had a most distinguished academic career in the USA. His Sonata da Camera in four movements breaks the sultry-ecstatic mood of the rest of the disc with some lively, rhythmic, good-humoured fun, breaking off only in the long Sarabande for a touching and yearningly nostalgic moment – not at all archaic in its resonance.
Romanza Andaluza
Zucker’s gorgeous tone, tasteful phrasing and breath control here meet the clean and pleasingly judged playing of Marc Delpriora in a collection with an Hispanic emphasis. The Sarasate strikes a warm egalitarian balance between the two instruments and is well within the Iberian style. The little known Pessard is represented by a graceful Andalouse. The four movement Buenos Aires (1995) by Pujol ‘unlulls’ us into something with vitality and snappy jazzy pace in Pompeya, finds a classical style for the cool evening of Palermo, syncopated playfulness in San Telmo and finally in this ever so slightly commercial suite comes Microcentro with its anxious welter of interleaved down-pattering figures and siren wails. The other two part Pujol work is similar in its engaging atmosphere and well worth hearing for its poetry and rhythmic urgency. I recommend hearing the Candombe de los Buenos Tiempo for its optimistic throwing aside of the pervasive heat. It has a remarkably engaging liveliness complete with percussive effects delivered against the bodywork of the guitar. Rodrigo’s Aria Antiqua does indeed look back to earlier ages in music of largely slow dignity. There is more of that in the Andante moderato of the Serenata al alba del Dia but the better known Rodrigo of the guitar concertos can be discerned very clearly in the Allegro at tr. 12. Gonzalez’s lighter-hearted Danza de los Amantes Efimeros was originally for violin and guitar but has been transcribed by Zucker. This Colombian composer’s piece has an original and fantastical air breaking out of any suggestion of hackneyed territory. The disc finishes with three transcriptions from Granados’s Danzas espagnoles amongst which the clever and endearing Danza triste stands out (tr. 14).
Master Music
This is not I think the first time Franck’s violin sonata has been recorded in a version for flute and piano. It gives another warmer accent to this well known work and also shows Zucker breaking away from her accustomed territory of suites, genre pieces and atmosphere poems. This grand work of the romantic repertoire receives the customary warm and long-lined lyrical treatment. It works remarkably well especially in the finale. The piano is tactfully balanced and if anything sounds as if its top end presence has been toned down so that at all times it sounds velvety and hardly ever percussive. Ravel’s sultry Pièce en forme de Habanera is given here in the transcription by Louis Fleury and at moments looks forward, not very far, to the Rapsodie espagnole. Fauré’s Morceau de concours is one of a host of competition pieces – ultimately unremarkable. The Debussy Little Shepherd (no. 5 from Children’s Corner) is warmly fruity and fades into an evening that seems to breathe Saharan heat. Schubert’s Introduction and Variations on a Theme from the Mullerlieder (not Mullerleider, Cantilena) op. 25 makes a and poetic rare appearance in this classically-based collection. The extended and inventive Variations are on the song Trockne (not Trochne) Blumen from Schöne Müllerin. Usually anything by the prolific and long-lived Milhaud is going to be a delight and so it proves with the flute Sonatine. There’s a sinuously insidious Tendre, a troubled rippling Souple with some shivering undercurrents and a final confident almost swaggering Clair. Marc Shapira is discreetly supportive throughout. Zucker is very much in the foreground and no one can regret that in the face of such emotionally communicative playing.
Rob Barnett
I have started performing jazz a lot and I wanted to share with you these four jazz standards for download, performed by The Third Floor Jazz Club. Musicians are Laurel Zucker, flutist; Scott Stringer, keyboards; Terry Cobb, bassist; and Steve King, drummer.
Caravan, composed by Duke Ellington/Tizol in 1937
Emily, composed by Mandel and Mercer in 1964
My Funny Valentine, composed by Hart and Rogers in 1937
The Nearness Of You, composed by Ned Washington and Hoagy Carmichael and published by Famous Music Corp
The new Cantilena Records Catalog is out! Download it now to read all about the artists, Cantilena Records, and detailed descriptions of all of the current CD releases.
Flutists download solo flute music by Laurel Zucker for free:
The Shining was composed in New York City after hearing Jeff Beck’s guitar style of
repeated staccato notes. Effect Out was composed after buying an electronic foot pedal
called the flange which bends the pitch and timbre of the flute sound- I had a good time
listening to the way the amount of air blown thru the flute and the shape of my embousure
changed the way the flange effected my sound with arpeggios.
Also, take a look at the NEW pieces by Laurel Zucker called Pandora for solo flute
[download] and Homage to Jimi Hendrix for solo flute [download].Hi flutists – Here are the cadenzas I composed for the Mozart Flute Concerto in D and
G major, available for free downloading to anyone!
Laurel Zucker & Rene Siebert
“The Complete Kuhlau Duos for Two Flutes. Op. 80 & 81″Cantilena Records now offers you Scores for Free of Kuhlau’s Opus 80 and 81, which
were lost in the fire of 1831 (via PDF files). CD releases available NOW!
Click on the buttons to select PDF.
If you wish to schedule a
concert/masterclass for your
festival, series or school
please contact me.