Suite Op16

Description

Suite for Flute and Piano, Op. 16
Composed by Richard Rossler
Published by Zimmermann

A German-Baltic composer, he was also a pianist, organist and music teacher.  His works were largely composed in the time before the First World War.  Because of this, his body of work could not be more refined in terms of its composition, as it is, on the one hand, influenced by the aesthetic tradition of the Brahms-Joachim circle (as is expressed in the style of the d minor theme in the first movement of the suite.  On the other hand, it also reflects the many different currents of this both retrospective and forward-looking.  An elegantly restrained air, which shifts between sweet gracefulness and the gentle melancholy of a lyrical Slavic melody, is juxtaposed with the light-footed gaeity of motoring ostinato tarantella phrases and developments of expansive dimensions and-particulary in adagio phrases-powerful crescendos.  A humorous trait can also be found occasionally, for example in the capricious flute theme and the staccato articulations of the piano in the third movement of the suite, in which there is a blend of the sonata and rondo form.  In the second movement, the impressionistic piano accompaniment, and in particular the systemically off-beat tempo, brings us to a tender state of uncertainty, which alternates with the idyll of a pastoral melody and naturalistic musical imagery.