![]() |
Aldo Baerten |
Curious about the repertoire, we asked Aldo how he came to
choose the Opus 5 Duos. He shared that
he and violist Diederik Suys had been friends for many years, having performed
for 25 years together in the quintet ARPAE (flute, harp, and string trio). Baerten and Suys decided to play through all
of the Opus 5 Duos, which then led them to decide to move forward with a
recording. Since Suys has had his own
independent recording label for 10 years, it seemed like a natural choice for
the duo to record and sell online.
Aldo mentioned that his friendship with Suys also led to the
choice for a recording location. This
new recording took place in a chapel where Suys has his own concert series, and
which Aldo notes, “has very good natural acoustics.” Aldo also told us that there is quite a lot
of repertoire for flute and viola – and he has played quite a bit of it! He said that he and Suys will also make
another recording of flute and viola repertoire in the future. As for the instrumentation, Aldo shared his
thoughts, noting that the flute and viola duo is “Very classical, very
transparent, and a very natural way of writing.
The flute carries the melodic line, and the viola serves as the
bass. As a flutist, you don’t have to
force or exaggerate, and the two instruments blend very well together. “
Finally, we asked Aldo about performing with Suys since they
has been friends for so long. Aldo told
us, “It feels like coming home when you can record with someone whose playing
you know. You can enjoy playing
together, and you don’t have to search – it comes in a very natural way.” This sounded wonderful to us!
The new CD is available at http://www.ut3-records.com/records/ut3-024. For more information on Aldo Baerten, visit
his website at http://www.aldobaerten.be/index.php
and his Powell artist profile page at https://powellflutes.com/academy/masters/aldo-baerten.