I am delighted that the 7 Eskapaden by Robert Dohn, my former colleague at the SWR Radio Symphony Orchestra Stuttgart, are being published by Edition Kossack.
When I took up my post as principal flute with the SWR Radio Symphony Orchestra in 1983, Robert Dohn, also principal flute, had the idea of writing a piece for our quintet of flutes in which the entire flute family (piccolo, high flute, alto flute and bass flute) would be represented.
We premiered this wonderful piece on 4 March 1984 at the Sunday concerts in what was then the concert hall of the Landesgirokasse Stuttgart. It is a highly colourful, virtuosic and expressive work in seven movements, and shows a strong influence from French flute composers.
Each movement offers one of the five players the opportunity to shine. For example, a cadenza is included for both the piccolo and the alto flute, and each part has a movement in which it takes centre stage as a soloist. Robert Dohn also incorporated subtle modern effects, which are woven into the composition with great finesse.
It was the invitation to the Adams Flute Festival in Ittervoort, where I am organising a concert with my former and current students (a tribute to Gaby Pas-Van Riet), that gave me the idea of performing this piece again.
Contact with Robert Dohn’s daughter, Christiane Dohn, enabled me to access the autograph manuscript of this work once again. I am very grateful to Christiane for immediately granting me access to the documents at my request, as her father passed away in 2015.
Thus, the revival of this composition is also a special tribute for me to this wonderful musician and colleague.
I can highly recommend this quintet to advanced flutists who also play other instruments. Thanks to its positive vitality, it is a great pleasure to practise and perform.
Gaby Pas-Van Riet
Notes by Christiane Dohn
Principal Flutist of the Munich Radio Orchestra of Bayerischer Rundfunk
First of all, I would like to express my heartfelt thanks to Prof. Gaby Pas-van Riet for reviving my father Robert Dohn’s piece *Eskapaden* for 5 flutes and for making its publication by Edition Kossack possible.
I am also very grateful to Mr Wolfgang Kossack of Edition Kossack for his work and for the opportunity to make this piece known and accessible to the interested ‘flute community’. Robert Dohn, born on 13 September 1936 and died on 7 February 2015, was a highly versatile artist: a flautist, soloist and composer, as well as a successful lecturer at the Stuttgart University of Music. He helped many flautists, including myself, on their path to securing a position in an orchestra.
I attended the world premiere of Eskapaden for 5 flutes in March 1984 as a 15-year-old audience member and was very impressed by the diverse range of timbres within the flute family—and afterwards perhaps even a little more in love with the sound of the transverse flute than before!
I hope you enjoy Eskapaden!
Christiane Dohn
