Carl Reinecke was a virtuoso pianist and teacher whose playing was admired by Franz Liszt and Clara Schumann, and whose students included Liszt's daughter, Cosima (Richard Wagner's future wife), and, in composition, the young Edvard Grieg. Today Reinecke is best known for his piano works, for his Flute Sonata ("Undine"), and for this D major concerto, which stands as nearly the only Romantic flute concerto still in the repertory (the next most notable being Saviero Mercadante's E minor concerto, composed nearly 90 years earlier!). That the D major concerto, written in 1908, should be considered Romantic at all is a key to understanding Reinecke's music, which was very old-fashioned in its day, rooted in the early 19th-century language of Felix Mendelssohn and Robert Schumann. But, though hardly cutting-edge, Reinecke was an excellent craftsman with a subtle ear for melody and harmony. The Flute Concerto shows him at his best, and provides a milder taste of the brackish waters of the early 20th century, where traditionalism still mixed with post-romanticism and emerging modernism.

Op. 283 is in three movements, all rather different in character. The opening Allegro molto moderato is the most symphonic of the three and reflects the influence of Johannes Brahms in its first measures, which seem to join an already existing thought. The slow movement, Lento e mesto (slow and sad), is in the style of a bel canto aria, perhaps one by Bellini or the young Donizetti. The orchestra assumes its most accompanimental role, clearly giving stage to the flute-as-protagonist which sings mournfully in B minor. The finale is more upbeat than its moderato designation might suggest. Listening to the overall texture, in which melody and accompaniment are clearly delineated, and yet rhythmically and gesturally interwoven, it is possible to hear Reinecke the keyboard composer at work. It wouldn't be hard to imagine a piano transcription of this movement, the busiest of the three for the soloist.



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