Samuel Baron, flute
Wallingford Riegger's Suite for Flute Alone was written for and dedicated to the celebrated flutist, Georges Barère, and comes in the composer's catalog after the Study in Sonority and before Dichotomy. Its four movements fall in style somewhere between the post-impressionist idiom of certain of Riegger's early works and the bolder fourths-oriented, pan-tonal manner of the later pieces. It is in the final Allegro ironico movement, with its swiftly fluctuating time signatures, that the Riegger musical fingerprints manifest themselves most clearly.
Of her Variations for Solo Flute, composed in 1961, Ursula Mamlok notes that it is the first of her works to employ 12-tone serial technique. She speaks further of the music's structure:
“The theme and first three variations consist of a row and its retrograde. The theme becomes divided through this procedure into two symmetrical parts, the second being a mirror of the first. The transformation of the various elements takes place gradually. At first only the rhythmic shapes are altered, the pitch order remaining intact. As the work progresses, however, only segments of the original row arc used. The final variation (12th) restores the rhythmic contour of the initial theme; but the row itself has taken a different form, this in order to transform the character of the opening statement.”
Meyer Kupferman's Line Fantasy comes from the first of a Cycle of Infinities composed in 1961. Samuel Baron gave the world premiere of Infinities One at Carnegie Recital Hall in New York on January 12, 1961. The Line Fantasy — fifth of the eight pieces comprising Infinities One is described by Mr. Kupferman as being “in two principal sections, a slow linear introduction featuring an unusual type of flute glissando, then a fast florid movement in alternating 6/8 - 2/8 time.”
George Perle comments as follows on the Monody No. 1 recorded here: “The Monody for unaccompanied flute, composed in 1960, is one of a series of works for unaccompanied melodic, or mainly melodic, instruments, a genre which has held a special interest for me throughout my creative career, and which includes, in addition to this Monody, numerous works for viola, clarinet, 'cello, violin, double bass, and bassoon. In his article, The Music of George Perle (ACA Bulletin, September 1962), Henry Weinberg quotes these remarks of mine concerning these pieces:
“They are “freely” or “intuitively” conceived in a twelve-tone idiom that combines various serial procedures with melodically generated tone-centers, intervallic cells, symmetrical formations, etc. A rhythmic concept, or rather ideal, toward which I progressed in these and several other works was that of a beat variable in duration but at the same time as tangible and coherent as the beat in classical music, and of an integration between the larger rhythmic dimensions and the minimal metric units'."
“Lake Music,” Frank Wigglesworth tells us, “was written in 1947 for the first of the New Music Edition Concerts given in New York, the concert in question being devoted wholly to solo flute music performed by René LeRoy. The title of the piece is meant to reflect the same kind of serenity that quiet lake views convey— in this instance that of Squam Lake, New Hampshire.”
Quodlibets for flute is one of Donald Martino's earlier works, and is cast in three movements: Studio (Adagio- Allegretto), Arietta (Larghetto), and Burla (Allegro). “Like my recent works,” notes Mr. Martino, “it is highly chromatic but unlike them it does not employ the 12-tone system and since it was written in a single day, it is almost completely intuitive.”
The Sonata for Flute, composed in 1964, reflects Alan Hovhaness' travels a few years before through Japan and India. Mr. Hovhaness describes his Sonata as composed in three modes, or ragas. “The first movement, Andante, with its central tone, A, is composed on A, B-flat, C, D-flat, E, F, G-sharp, with microtonal slides between G-sharp and A, C and D-flat. The Allegro second movement in the meter 3/8-3/4-3/8-4/4 is composed on the six tones, C, D- flat, E, F-sharp, A, B, with C as its central tone. The Adagio third movement with its center on E is composed on the seven tones E, F, G-flat, A, B, C, D-flat. Microtonal slides sometimes occur between G-flat—F—E.”
TThis title, originally issued on the CRI label, is now available as a burn-on-demand CD (CD-R) or download in MP3/320, FLAC or WAV formats. CD-Rs come in a protective sleeve; no print booklet or jewel case included. Full liner notes are accessible via the link above.
We have preserved the original CRI LP catalog number for this title, preceded by the prefix NWCRL, to distinguish previously unavailable back catalog titles from those later reissued by CRI on compact disc.
20th Century American Music for Flute
| MP3/320 | $7.99 | |
| FLAC | $7.99 | |
| WAV | $7.99 | |
| CD-R | $7.99 |
A *.pdf of the notes may be accessed here free of charge.
Track Listing
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Suite for Flute Alone, Op. 8: I. Moderato
Wallingford Riegger
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Suite for Flute Alone, Op. 8: II. Vivace
Wallingford Riegger
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Suite for Flute Alone, Op. 8: III. Molto con sentimento
Wallingford Riegger
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Suite for Flute Alone, Op. 8: IV. Allegro ironico
Wallingford Riegger
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Variations for Flute Solo
Ursula Mamlok
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Line Fantasy from Infinities One
Meyer Kupferman
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Monody No. 1
George Perle
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Lake Music
Frank Wigglesworth
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Quodlibets for Flute: I. Studio
Donald Martino
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Quodlibets for Flute: II. Arietta
Donald Martino
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Quodlibets for Flute: III. Burla
Donald Martino
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Sonata for Flute, Op. 118: I. Andante
Alan Hovhaness
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Sonata for Flute, Op. 118: II. Allegro
Alan Hovhaness
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Sonata for Flute, Op. 118: III. Adagio
Alan Hovhaness
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