Romantic flute musicRomantic flute music brings to mind the Paris Conservatory pieces and they are magnificent pieces indeed! The well-known collection, "Flute Music By French Composers," is a wonderful starting point for learning about this lovely music. The flute was largely ignored by the heavyweights of the Romantic era, perhaps because the flute wasn't thought substantial enough to carry off the deep, emotional pieces of the time. Flutists must turn to the symphonic repertoire for the writings of Brahms, Wagner, and other Romantics. Jean-Pierre Rampal led the way with transcriptions of pieces originally composed for other instruments, especially violin works, including mammoth pieces such as the Khachaturian violin concerto, and the more intimate pieces for written for oboe by Robert Schumann. In defense of the Romantic composers, however, the flute wasn't the finely crafted instrument it is today. It was wooden with a slight sound--not the powerful, expressive tone that we hear today. While solo offerings are few for the flute in the Romantic era, there are still lovely works that flutists can play...
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