French flute music from two of Norway’s most distinguished musicians: Torkil Bye and Jens Harald Bratlie
Flautist Torkil Bye, one of Norway’s most influential musicians and educators, and pianist Jens Harald Bratlie, a leading figure in Norwegian piano life, return to the French flute repertoire. French Music for Flute and Piano (LWC1478) was originally released on Varèse International and is now available again - digitally remastered.
The programme brings together works by Frédéric Chopin, Philippe Gaubert, André Caplet and François Borne, four composers who each approach the flute from a different angle. Philippe Gaubert was one of the great French flautists of his time, as well as a conductor and composer, and he wrote for the instrument with an insider’s knowledge of its character, from lyrical lines to brilliant virtuosity. François Borne, also a flautist, is remembered for showpieces that put the instrument’s agility on full display. André Caplet, a conductor and a close associate of Debussy, brings the colour and refinement of French chamber music. Together the works trace a tradition in which the flute is both singer and virtuoso, and the piano is a full partner.
Listen
Tracks
Credits
- Performer
- Torkil Bye (Flute) | Jens Harald Bratlie (Piano)
- Composer
- Frédéric Chopin | Philippe Gaubert | André Caplet | François Borne
- Executive producer
- Vegard Landaas
- PR
- Camilla Momkvist-Skau
- Accounting
- Torgeir M. Landaas
- Design
- Anette L’orange | Blunderbuss
- Recording country
- Norway
- Discs / tracks
- 1 disc | 15 tracks
- Release year
- 2026
- Label
- LAWO Classics
- Duration
- 26:20
- EAN
- 7090020184517
- ISRC
- NOEHX2642010-150
- Previously released as
- Varèse International
Biographies
Torkil Bye
Torkil Bye (b. 1942) is one of Norway's most distinguished flautists, celebrated both as a soloist and as one of the country's most influential music educators.
He made his debut with the Oslo Philharmonic Society's Orchestra in 1959, and gave his first solo recital in 1961. At the age of sixteen he was engaged in a permanent position with the orchestra of the Norwegian Opera. Following studies in Zürich with André Jaunet and in New York with Julius Baker, he went on to hold permanent positions as solo flutist of the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra (Harmonien) and later as solo flutist of the San Antonio Symphony Orchestra in Texas, before being appointed professor in Austin, Texas.
Torkil Bye has been widely recognised as both a soloist and pedagogue, giving concerts and masterclasses across Europe, Japan, the USA, Argentina and Peru. He received the Spellemannprisen in 1973 and won the Princess Astrid Music Prize in both 1958 and 1965. He later served as associate professor at Østlandets Musikkonservatorium, and subsequently as professor at the Norwegian Academy of Music until 2008.
His two digital releases on Lawo Classics document his long artistic partnership with pianist Helge Myhren. French Music for Flute and Piano (LWC1478) presents a programme drawn from the rich French flute tradition, while The Sound of Gold and Palladium Flutes (LWC1479) ranges across repertoire including Franz Benda, Kuhlau, Martinů and Milhaud. Together, the two albums offer a portrait of an artist whose musicianship spans centuries of repertoire with equal warmth and authority.
Jens Harald Bratlie
Jens Harald Bratlie (b.1948) is one of Norway's foremost pianists, with a career spanning six decades. He made his debut at the University Aula in Oslo in 1965 at the age of seventeen, having studied with Hans Solum since the age of eight. From 1966 to 1968 he studied with Vlado Perlemuter at the Conservatoire de Paris, winning its First Prize in 1969, and he later worked with Robert Riefling and briefly with Ilona Kabos in London.
He has received the Riefling Prize, the Grieg Prize, the Norwegian Music Critics' Award (1974) and Spellemannprisen twice. Since 1974 he has been pianist of the Oslo Trio with Stig Nilsson and Aage Kvalbein. He has appeared as soloist with orchestras across Scandinavia, the USA, France, Austria, Poland and Lithuania, and toured the former Soviet Union in 1972. He served as Professor at the Norwegian Academy of Music from 1994 to 2018, including as Rector 1999–2002.