Caprici, for English horn and piano

Among Francisco Fleta’s extensive body of chamber music there are various pieces with the titles Capricho, Impromptu and Fantasia, and all of them are driven by the same idea: pieces written from top to bottom, as they come out naturally, without any other pretension besides that of fulfilling the composer’s need to make music for the ensemble of instruments he has before him and, above all else, to the satisfaction of the musicians for whom it is created.
This is the case with Caprici per a corn anglès i piano (Capriccio for English horn and piano), a piece which does not seek out the virtuosity of the solo instrument (though nor does it shy away from its technical complexity) but which emerges as a lyrical chant, a piece in which the English horn can show off its more cantabile side. The instrument is taken through its mid to high registers, and the contrast between the large and expressive intervals of the opening and the runs of adjacent tones is exploited to bring energy to the discourse.

David Puertas