-

“Mozart is the reason why I became a musician,” says Emmanuel Pahud. Now, in partnership with pianist Eric Le Sage the flautist has recorded the album Mozart Stories – four Mozart sonatas, originally conceived for violin. Pahud shares a birthday with Mozart (27th January) and was first captivated by the composer’s music when he was just four years old. “Mozart is my lucky musical star,” he says, “When I play his works, as I inhale and exhale, I feel a connection between body and soul. His music combines structure and freedom.”

For Mozart Stories Pahud and Le Sage, an established team in the concert hall, have selected sonatas in B flat major, G major, E minor and C major. “Mozart wrote the sonatas at a time when he was composing works for flute too … so the flute and the violin are very close to each other,” affirms Pahud. “Each of the sonatas, starting off with the key it is written in, has a distinctive character.”

Gramophone’s June 2024 edition welcomes the album warmly: “What a good idea to adapt four of Mozart’s mature violin sonatas …The customary ease, gentleness and fluidity of Emmanuel Pahud’s flute and model taste and clarity of Éric Le Sage’s piano-playing are evident … These are ideal transcriptions ideally performed, not weighed down by comparisons with the original pieces, but finding fresh opportunities in them and offering new things to think about.”