**1/2 Emmanuel Pahud

MOZART: FOUR FLUTE QUARTETS

(EMI Classics)

This recording is another vehicle to showcase the talents of flutist Emmanuel Pahud, who is being marketed as the next James Galway (Heaven help us!). Like Galway before he went solo, Pahud is principal flutist of the Berlin Philharmonic and tours as a soloist and chamber musician.

Although the four quartets are chamber music, they are treated here as mini concertos with the flute front and center. The three string players are identified by name only, and their sonic contributions minimized. In any case, these pieces are not top-drawer Mozart. The music ranges from the lovely, aria-like Adagio of the D-major Quartet (K.285) to the quite conventional theme with variations and the perfunctory finale of the A-major Quartet (K.298). Although he was writing on commission and needed the money, Mozart obviously didn't have his heart in the job of composing the first three quartets ordered by his Mannheim patron, Monsieur de Jean. In the fourth, he may have been indulging in parody of contemporary French styles, though the music isn't bad enough to be ridiculous. It just sounds banal.

Pahud's playing is big, penetrating, technically assured. But he doesn't impress one with great subtlety, expressivity, or variety of color. Then again, there isn't much in the music to call forth those qualities. This pleasant but unobtrusive recording would make perfect background music in a restaurant with pretensions, or a Victoria's Secret boutique.

-- Ellen Pfeifer

(Emmanuel Pahud, with pianist Eric Le Sage, performs in recital at Jordan Hall this Sunday, October 31. Call 482-6661.)