Jean-Marie LeClair

Chaconne from Deuxieme Recreation de Musique op. 8

Elizabeth Walker has previously arranged four songs for flute and piano by Richard Strauss for ALRY Publications, as well as four 'Songs Without Words' by Felix Mendelssohn for two flutes and piano. This ‘Chaconne' by Jean-Marie Leclair is taken from his ‘Deuxième récréation de musique', opus 8, originally composed for two flutes or two violins, and basso continuo. It is a long, involved movement lasting approximately 8 minutes; with contrasting major and minor sections, multiple rhythmical, rhetoric and emotional changes. The piece shows influences of flamboyant artistry seen in Italian baroque pieces, but also the formal structures of the French dance form. Elizabeth has added phrasings, articulations and written out some of the French baroque ornaments to aid a historically informed, stylistic interpretation on modern flutes.