“FLUTES”: Music by Joseph Schwantner, Paul Schoenfield...

“FLUTES”: Music by Joseph Schwantner, Paul Schoenfield and Robert Beaser. Ransom Wilson, Carol Wincenc, Paula Robison, flutes; Brian Zeger, Paul Schoenfield, Robert Beaser, pianos; Douglas Webster, baritone; Solisti New York Chamber Orchestra, conducted by Alasdair Neale. New World 80403-2. Three leading flutists commission an attractive concerto and a flute-piano encore each from three different composers here. Schwantner’s “A Play of Shadows . . .” is delicately scored and uninhibitedly melodic, while Beaser’s “Song of the Bells”--which gives Robison a tough workout--bursts into playful bird song after a static opening. The most strikingly original work is Schoenfield’s “Klezmer Rondos,” with its saucy bursts of clarinet and sax, jaunty two-beat rhythms and bittersweet setting of a Yiddish poem.