James Galway - Serenade - Vinyl Album
Brand new, never played and still sealed in the factory plastic seal with promotional jacket slit
BMG Music 1989


These recordings from 1970 through 1974 represent the cream of the crop of James Galway's recordings as the principal flutist of the Berlin Philharmonic, and for what it is, it can't be beat. Although Galway's tone of molten gold and technique of tensile steel is evident on every track from his warmly romantic Morning Mood from Grieg's Peer Gynt through his warmly lyric Concertante Andante grazioso from Mozart's "Posthorn" Serenade to his warmly erotic Dance of the Seven Veils from Salome, only fans will instantly pick out his playing from the uniformly voluptuous sonorities of the Berlin Philharmonic at the height of Herbert von Karajan's power. Certainly, Galway is lovely in the Concertante, but who would say he is lovelier than clarinetist Lothar Koch? Surely Galway is affecting in the Domine Deus from Bach's B minor Mass, but who would say he is more affecting than soprano Gundula Janowitz or tenor Peter Schreier? And in the four movements excerpted from two of Reicha's Wind Quintets, Galway is only one of five fabulous players and no better than those he's with, which is, of course, the highest possible praise; these are all first desk players with the most virtuosic orchestra in the world. Perhaps only fans of the Irish flutist will seek out these performances, but they will no doubt be fully satisfied by what they hear. DG's early-'70s stereo sound is as good as stereo recordings can get, that is to say, absolutely transparent.


Track Listing
Serenade / Standchen, D. 957
Nocturne, Op. 9, No. 2 in E - Flat
Reverie
Serenade: Largo
Suite No. 3: Air
La Fille aux cheveux de lin
Concerto for Flute and Harp, K. 299
Consolation No. 3
Adagio Of Spartacus & Phrygia
Meditation
Bachianas Brasileiras No. 5: Aria
Song Of The Seashore
Vocalise, Op. 34, No. 14
Fantaisie
Serenade
La plus que lente