Robert Langevin at CSULB

On Friday night, Patrick and I went to Cal State Long Beach for the Robert Langevin (principal flutist for the New York Philharmonic) concert. Another Culver City flute choir member, Michael, was there too, as well as Shozo Ogura, of Ogura Fluteworks. It was nice seeing our friends! The concert was part of two days of master classes and a competition for middle and high school students, but because of my schedule, I couldn't go to either of the master classes. Having now heard Mr. Langevin perform, I regret missing the classes. I'm sure they would have been fun and educational!

I was so impressed by Mr. Langevin's performance! You can visit the New York Philharmonic's website by clicking on the title of today's post. I'll be looking for more opportunities to hear him perform; I really hope he'll be at the flute convention in August, in Anaheim.

His playing was so gorgeous; I was totally blown away. I really loved how his playing was so emotional and lush and beautiful. He completely won me over with the opening piece, Sonate en Concert, by Damase. The second piece was the world premier of Flute Sonata #6 (The Toulouse-Latrec Sonata) based on Circus Illustrations by artist Toulouse-Latrec by Christopher Caliendo. I've seen Mr. Caliendo many times at the flute convention, but I don't think I've ever heard any of his solo compositions. This one was written specifically for Mr. Langevin. My favorite movement was the second - "Danseuse de corde." It was perfectly suited for Mr. Langevin, and totally evocative of the artwork. The program notes state, "All eyes are cast at the circus dancer at the tightrope." It was lovely, and really a special moment in the composition.

There was an intermission, where prizes were given out to the students who participated in the competition. I never did anything like that in middle or high school (and probably wasn't as good of a flutist as these kids are) and I got a huge kick out of seeing the little and not-so-little (one high school-age boy was probably over 6' tall!) kids. Most were still all dressed up in their concert outfits, and they were very cute.

The first piece after intermission was "Sonata in A, op 13" by Faure (I think traditionally this piece is for cello and piano?). I wasn't thrilled with this piece, though of course the execution was perfect.

After that, Mr. Langevin played "Hungarian Fantasy for Two Flutes" by Franz and Karl Doppler, with John Barcellona, the Director of Woodwind Studies and Professor of Flute at CSULB. Their performance was a lot of fun. During the first four bars, I thought, "this could be a fun duet for me and Patty to work on," but then pretty soon I realized that it will take a long, long time for me to be able to play that second flute part, which was killer. They did a great job, and added a bit of comedy (in the middle of the piece, there was a bit with a "waitress," a tray of water glasses, and the bill), which made the whole thing a lot of fun.

For an encore, Mr. Langevin performed Morceau de Concours, by Faure, which was perfectly executed and charming.

Wendy Caldwell, the pianist, was also wonderful. Her playing was as beautiful and captivating as Mr. Langevin's. Daniel Recital Hall at CSULB is a great place to see a concert like this, and I'm glad we got out for a night of flute music.