Inna Leoni - Vladimir Tsybin - Concert Etude No 10 in e-minor for Flute and Piano Цыбин Этюд No. 10

Vladimir Tsybin - Concert Etude No 10 in e-minor for Flute and Piano Inna Leoni, flute. Brian Gilmore, piano. Recorded at L. Brown Recording, Inc. New York. Track from the original recording “The Russian Romantic Flute“. Recorded on Haynes Silver Flute with David Williams Headjoint and Steinway D Centennial Grand Piano. Владимир Цыбин - Концертный Этюд No. 10 для Флейты и Фортепиано. Vladimir Tsybin (1877-1949) is a name highly revered among Russian flutists. As a professor of flute at the Moscow Conservatory for nearly a quarter of a century, Tsybin taught and influenced generations of flutists and is regarded by some as the father of the Russian School of flute playing. His substantial compositional output includes the three Concerto Allegros for flute, Ten Concert Etudes for flute and piano, and other compositions. The concept of the etude can be traced back centuries as a pedagogical piece intended to overcome technical and artistic difficulties. Such works were often dominated by the didactic intent amounting to dry technical exercises essential to physical development, but devoid of musical substance. During the 19h century a metamorphosis was to occur as Chopin and Liszt transformed the etude into a dramatic work fit for the concert stage. The concert etude has been embraced by composers even since and in Russia found a particularly potent line of champions leading from Lyapunov to Rachmaninoff, Scriabin, Prokofiev and Stravinsky among others. It is from this lineage that Tsybin’s “Ten Concert Etudes” for flute and piano descend. Concert Etude is an extremely concise work whose dark and turbulent passages are strongly emotive. Finely crafted, the agitated opening eventually gives way to a feeling of whimsy and caprice as the theme develops. As an interesting aside, either by design or coincidence the 1st note of each of the descending figures of this etude’s primary theme correspond precisely to the opening melody of Schubert’s “Introduction and Variations”. -Brian Gilmore