If You Wrote a Solo Flute Piece, What Would It Sound Like?

[snyprrr]

I pick the solo flute genre as the most over saturated genre out (let's say), and ask the question, What do you do? Do you try to innovate, create,... or do you just write a piece that perhaps you'll like, or someone else will like? What would you do? I'd love to hear from everybody: it's a creative, imaginative question, you don't have to be a Composer, do you? Nah.


Personally, I'd be faced with quite a dilemma. I'd go for originality, which would require something,... gosh, I can't even think. My first solution would require 2 flutes, so that's out. The second solution would be a combination furious flurries of notes & regularly spaced strings of (random) notes. It seems like it would be compulsory length (what is that, 3-7 minutes?). What can really be done with the solo flute?

I think if I included electronics, most people would exclude, so, for these, purposes, let's say NO electronics. Sorry!

[petrarch]

I only write pieces that I like. In the repertoire, my big references are Densité 21.5 and Unity Capsule, but my absolute favorites are those in the cycle Fabbrica Degli Incantesimi. What would a piece of mine for solo flute sound like? I don't know without composing it, but probably some interpolation of the pieces mentioned. I have some sketches for one I started composing in the early 90s, however it does include electronics, albeit only for spatialization.

[Karl Henning]

Since I have written music for solo flute, I must recuse myself from a question cast in the conditional ; )

[snyprrr]

Since I have written music for solo flute, I must recuse myself from a question cast in the conditional ; )

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaand? No linky? Tell me more!

[snyprrr]

I only write pieces that I like. In the repertoire, my big references are Densité 21.5 and Unity Capsule, but my absolute favorites are those in the cycle Fabbrica Degli Incantesimi. What would a piece of mine for solo flute sound like? I don't know without composing it, but probably some interpolation of the pieces mentioned. I have some sketches for one I started composing in the early 90s, however it does include electronics, albeit only for spatialization.

Thank you.

I am curious about Robert Fabbriiaicniacvuiai(?)'s album called 'Glaciers of Extinction', in which he uses some super bass flute.

[Karl Henning]

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaand? No linky? Tell me more!

Thanks for asking.

[jochanaan]

Do improvised pieces count?  If so, I've done many for solo flute.  I tend toward dreamy, meditative music broken by random flurries...

[Karl Henning]

Have you considered, Bach-like, recording those improvisations and bringing them afterwards to paper, jo? (I don't mean that Bach ever did sound recordings . . . I know that's an anachronism ; )

jo, if you wrote a solo cor anglais piece, what would it sound like? : )

[petrarch]

Thanks for asking.

And thanks for posting the link!

[Mirror Image]

I wouldn't write a piece for solo flute. Not unless I was to get a nice check in the mail, then I would definitely consider it.

[pjme]

Primaeval breath, (solar, interstellar...) wind, voices & airpipes, God blowing life into man, whales coming to the surface, fighting angels, Icarus'flight, Zephyr,Boreas,Anemoi,Mercury, dying fish, whistle, bray, gulp, lungs, cry, asthma, sobs...
pour flûte solo ( piccolo and alto flute).



I'would think along these lines and dream of the impossible.
P.

[Karl Henning]

I wouldn't write a piece for solo flute. Not unless I was to get a nice check in the mail, then I would definitely consider it.

But, then: why should anyone write you a nice check for a solo flute piece, unless he had confidence in what you would write?

[Mirror Image]

But, then: why should anyone write you a nice check for a solo flute piece, unless he had confidence in what you would write?

Because a lot of my pieces would feature a prominent role for the woodwinds.

[Karl Henning]

Primaeval breath, (solar, interstellar...) wind, voices & airpipes, God blowing life into man, whales coming to the surface, fighting angels, Icarus'flight, Zephyr,Boreas,Anemoi,Mercury, dying fish, whistle, bray, gulp, lungs, cry, asthma, sobs...

What pitch-world would you employ?  How long a piece would it be? : )

[pjme]

I'm not a composer. And I enjoyed making a little list of "wind & breath".
But I can imagine that writing for soloflute isn't that obvious. Most well known works ( 20th century) tend to be very short (a few minutes): Syrinx, Densité, Danse de la chêvre...Bach's Partita: ca 8-10 mins.?
Even Charles Koechlin's massive (239 minutes!) / 1944"Les Chants de Nectaire" op. 198, 199 en 200 consists of 96 shorter pieces.
Anyway, flute music exists because of "breath", "le souffle", "Atem, adem,asem...".
I can imagine a shortish suite-like composition ( 10-12 minutes) starting with" sobs,cries and hiccups" to a firmly recognisable ( divine, interstellar, superhuman) theme! It would be freely atonal.

But I repeat: I'm only a composer in my dreams .

[jochanaan]

Have you considered, Bach-like, recording those improvisations and bringing them afterwards to paper, jo? (I don't mean that Bach ever did sound recordings . . . I know that's an anachronism ; )

jo, if you wrote a solo cor anglais piece, what would it sound like? : )

I've considered doing just that--but it seems I'm usually too busy with other things, including coming up with new improvisations. 

I think my ideal English horn piece would be something like a certain contemporary composer's Studies in Impermanence.

[snyprrr]

I'm not a composer. And I enjoyed making a little list of "wind & breath".
But I can imagine that writing for soloflute isn't that obvious. Most well known works ( 20th century) tend to be very short (a few minutes): Syrinx, Densité, Danse de la chêvre...Bach's Partita: ca 8-10 mins.?
Even Charles Koechlin's massive (239 minutes!) / 1944"Les Chants de Nectaire" op. 198, 199 en 200 consists of 96 shorter pieces.
Anyway, flute music exists because of "breath", "le souffle", "Atem, adem,asem...".
I can imagine a shortish suite-like composition ( 10-12 minutes) starting with" sobs,cries and hiccups" to a firmly recognisable ( divine, interstellar, superhuman) theme! It would be freely atonal.

But I repeat: I'm only a composer in my dreams .

Yes, thank you. Very good!

I can only imagine a shortish work, too,... unless you had the irresistible melody, then you could do a Feldman/improv-raga?

I love the Sciarrino stuff, but he seems to have cornered the market. I'm not sure I've heard the totally integrated piece (will have to listen to Ferneyhough,... yes, no, I haven't ).

[Karl Henning]

I've considered doing just that--but it seems I'm usually too busy with other things, including coming up with new improvisations. 

I think my ideal English horn piece would be something like a certain contemporary composer's Studies in Impermanence.

Thank you for the smile!

[Karl Henning]

I love the Sciarrino stuff, but he seems to have cornered the market.

Oh? What market would that be?

[Szykneij]

I've never been able to write anything original that I didn't discover later I had subconsciously ripped off from something else. So, if I wrote a solo flute piece, it would probably be based on the melody of Faure's "Pavanne" interspersed with licks from "Thick as a Brick".