Beethoven: Serenades / James Galway, Joseph Swensen

Except for two things, James Galways disc of Beethovens flute works is unbeatable. First, Beethoven wrote three large-scale works for flute and Galway only plays one of these, the Serenade, Op. 25, and skips the other two, the Themes With Variations (6), Op. 105, and the Themes With Variations (10), Op. 107. Second, he plays two works that are hardly Beethoven at all, his Serenade, Op. 8, arranged for flute and piano, and a flute sonata that may or may not be by Beethoven. The result is a recital weighted less toward Beethoven and more toward Galway. This is fine, up to a point: Galways playing is sweet toned and technically impeccable, and his performances here are as charming as his performances of Mozart or Mancini. But one does miss hearing Beethoven when listening to Beethovens music: Galways interpretation of the Serenade, Op. 25, is far more unctuously ingratiating than the work itself, and his interpretation of the arranged Serenade, Op. 8, is far more slick and sentimental than the real work. And while his interpretation of the flute sonata is far sweeter and more genteel than any real work by Beethoven, at least the work itself may not be by Beethoven. In the sonata and the Serenade, Op. 8, pianist Phillip Moll is almost wholly self-effacing. In the Serenade, Op. 25, the string players are nearly anonymous. The recordings were made in three different places at three different times with three different producers and the sound quality fluctuates from the edgy Serenade, Op. 25, to the flute-heavy sonata to the better-balanced Serenade, Op. 8.