Flautist
“…Grodd’s strong tonal projection and natural interpretative charisma make him one of the most arresting solo flautists I have heard here for some years…he almost made his flute talk.”
Uwe Grodd’s contributions to classical music have brought him worldwide acclaim as flautist, conductor, editor and teacher.
“…Grodd beguiled the ear with some of the most seductive sounds of the Festival so far.”
In 1996 he joined Naxos Records as an exclusive artist, a partnership which has allowed him to reintroduce the oeuvres of many undervalued or forgotten composers.
For Uwe Grodd a solo career, chamber music, teaching, conducting, and music editing are complementary disciplines. Every aspect of music-making, each musical engagement, forms a vital contribution to the development of the whole musician. He says “… these are all essential ingredients to the fascinating complexity of musical interpretation, that magical process of discovery which is a distillation of rigor and imaginative intuition … and during the 18th century one would also have composed, and even made one’s own instrument!”
A graduate of Mainz University, Germany, Grodd studied with flute masters of international repute including André Jaunet and Robert Aitken.
His editions of flute chamber music by Vaňhal, Hummel, Mozart, Beethoven and Ries, published by Artaria Editions, are increasingly in demand.
Following a most successful series of new editions of arrangements by Hummel of the Last Six Symphonies by Mozart for flute, violin, cello and piano, Uwe has embarked on the journey to edit and record symphonies Nos. 1-7 by Beethoven arranged by Hummel for the same combination of instruments.
Ludwig van Beethoven Grand Symphonies Vol. 1 Symphonies Nos. 1 and 3 ‘Eroica’ arr. J.N. Hummel for flute and piano trio
Uwe Grodd, flute | Gould Piano Trio | Edition Grodd NAXOS 8.574039
“ The musical performance is outstanding.”
“Hummel’s arrangements are particularly striking in both their faithfulness to the originals and yet the sense that they could have been written like this in the first place.”
The editions by Uwe Grodd and the world premiere recording of the Vanhal Flute Quartets were both greeted with enthusiasm.
Johann Baptist Vaňhal: Flute Quartets, Op. 7 Nos. 2, 3, 6
Uwe Grodd, Flute | Janaki String Trio
"Fastidious Elegance! … Grodd’s strong projection of pure tone across all registers and finely contoured phrasing earns this distinctive flautist my great respect."
“…Attractive works and performances. Playing of deft sensitivity, full of proportion, equilibrium, expressive contouring and lyrical affection. ...”
“New Zealand-based German flutist and conductor Uwe Grodd has a light, clean sound that fits these works very appropriately. Over the years, he has developed a close connection to Vanhal, being responsible for the Artaria edition of the flute quartets, and having recorded the composer’s Missa pastoralis and Missa solemnis, as well as his Symphonies. Here he is joined by the Janaki String Trio, winner of last year’s Concert Artists Guild International Competition. Grodd and his partners play well, with fine technical command of their instruments, stylistic fluency, and overall accomplished musicianship, as well as an audible empathy with the composer.”
Uwe Grodd and the Italian pianist Matteo Napoli enjoy a flourishing duo partnership which has resulted in many concerts in Europe and New Zealand and some fine recordings.
Franz Schubert | Music for Flute and Piano Sonata in A minor ‘Arpeggione’ Six Schubert Songs | Variations on Trockne Blumen
Uwe Grodd, Flute | Matteo Napoli, Piano
“Grodd plays the arranged Schubert songs of ‘Winterreise’ and ‘Schwanengesang’ with astonishing certainty and beauty of sound, …as well as the famous 'Ständchen', which sounds as sensitive and warm-hearted as ever.”
Friedrich Kuhlau Sonatas for Flute and Piano, Op. 83
Uwe Grodd flute | Matteo Napoli piano NAXOS 8.555346
"[Grodd] is a rare breed of musician as a flutist and conductor. He plays these sonatas with a bright, energetic sound and an awareness of the entire score that, ideally, all musicians should have. Grodd and Napoli give such fine performances of the sonatas that the pieces might easily be mistaken for Beethoven...This recording is a colorful and appreciated addition to the repertoire."
“It is when we turn to the trio of Opus 83 Sonatas, published in Bonn in the same year, that we discover why their composer was regarded at the time as ‘the Beethoven of the flute’. These are three of the very finest flute sonatas of the early 19th century and are fully worthy of the present, highly sympathetic performances on modern instruments, which do not try to over-dramatize or trivialize the music with exaggerated bravura. The recording is excellent and this disc is another real Naxos discovery."