Richard Flury (L) – Paul Burkhard (R) – The rarities continue.
Back over to less familiar territory from the Swiss Radio Archives with a composer we’ve run before – Richard Flury with the Radio Beromünster Orchestra led by Paul Burkhard in a performance of Flury’s Im Altisberg, Sinfonische Suite für Orchester (1953) recorded at the Radio Studio in Zurich on February 2, 1954 in what may very well be the premier performance.
Here is a snippet of his bio, by way of Toccata Records for the recently issued series of CD’s outlining Richard Flury’s career:
As a composer, Richard Flury was committed to late Romanticism. He was keen to find ways of expressing new ideas within the framework of tonality, always endeavouring to follow his own natural musical sensibilities. For him, music was a language of the emotions and thus a Romantic art, and he was averse to anything constructivist. His compositions often demonstrate a highly contrapuntal development of his themes, but it always occurs organically, as if resulting from an inner flow. He did not indulge in mere imitation, instead finding his way to a highly personal style that is expressed i n imaginative harmonies and in his rhythmic development. His orchestral works are particularly notable for his use of harmony, and they are transparently and inventively scored, often displaying Impressionist traits; nor does he hesitate to venture towards the very boundaries of tonality. The fact that Flury was himself a violinist is reflected in how he writes for strings in his instrumental music – and it was in the instrumental genres that he saw his main area of endeavour, despite his creation of a large number of vocal works, too. His many piano pieces also reflect his skill as a pianist well acquainted with the repertoire for his instrument.
Press play and enjoy.
