The flute has really come of age over the past 50 years, I think partly because composers have been keen to exploit the possibilities of interesting harmonies caused by overblowing.
Anyway, here's a thread to record special recordings of recent flute music.
I'll kick it off with this lovely thing by Chaya Czernowin called Ina, for live flute and tape. There's a commercial recording by Sylvie Lacroix, but here's a nice one on YouTube.
https://www.youtube.com/v/cn5l7tPBwZw
Now, the first name that comes to mind for me is Fenneyhough...
Quote from: springrite on November 29, 2020, 07:54:11 PM
Now, the first name that comes to mind for me is Fenneyhough...
Yes well he is a flute player. From his flute pieces, I love Unity Capsule, and indeed Cassandra's Dream Song. And there's clarinet music too - Time and Motion Study iii (I think iii)
This CD, which has Unity Capsule, is well worth exploring I think
(https://i1.sndcdn.com/artworks-000505423530-dji7xh-t500x500.jpg)
Mandryka, that was a fun listen :)
There're some good pieces on that disk
(https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/61q36PIt%2BdL._SX522_.jpg)
Quote from: Mandryka on November 30, 2020, 10:04:44 AM
Yes well he is a flute player. From his flute pieces, I love Unity Capsule, and indeed Cassandra's Dream Song. And there's clarinet music too - Time and Motion Study iii (I think iii)
This CD, which has Unity Capsule, is well worth exploring I think
(https://i1.sndcdn.com/artworks-000505423530-dji7xh-t500x500.jpg)
This one is more or less the continuation of that CD and if you liked one, you'll like the other:
(https://reviews.azureedge.net/gramophone/media-thumbnails/vale_new_music_for_flute.jpg)
Quote from: david johnson on December 01, 2020, 12:23:21 AM
Mandryka, that was a fun listen :)
Which one, the Chaya Czernowin or the Richard Craig?
Quote from: Artem on December 01, 2020, 01:05:30 AM
There're some good pieces on that disk
(https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/61q36PIt%2BdL._SX522_.jpg)
This is not a composer I have explored before, but I was keen to do so when I saw your post because it was through listening to Nohkan players that I started to become more interested in flute -- I like the effect of overblowing. So thanks for this.
Hosokawa is an interesting composer to me. I am very curious about discovering his work, even though a lot of his chamber and orchestral compositions sound kind of the same to my ears. A slow build up of a mass of sound, followed by an eruption and then it slowly fades away. However, the pieces from that Naxos disk feel rather distinct from his other work.
Morton Feldman's 4 hours long piece For Philip Guston has a very beautiful flute part. His compositions for clarinet are also good.
Oh, and I almost forgot about this one, specifically the pieces dedicated to Boulez and Kurtag:
(https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/71rd8kneUzL._SX522_.jpg)
I'm not quite how avant-garde these would be thought to be (1977 and 1983, respectively), but I like Gubaidulina's Quartet for Flutes:
(http://cps-static.rovicorp.com/3/JPG_400/MI0000/996/MI0000996609.jpg?partner=allrovi.com)
and Birtwistle's Duets for Storab:
(https://www.classicalarchives.com/images/coverart/3/4/6/0/666283101928_300.jpg)
Kolbein Bjarnasson, the Hosokawa flautist above, has done a gorgeous recording of Klaus Huber's Ein Hauch von Unzeit, on this CD
(https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51dCfdUzyfL._SR600%2C315_PIWhiteStrip%2CBottomLeft%2C0%2C35_SCLZZZZZZZ_FMpng_BG255%2C255%2C255.jpg)
There are four versions of Trasfigured Wind by Roger Reynolds, all from the mid 1980s I think.
Transfigured Wind I is for solo flute, as far as I know there are no commercial recordings, but there is this excellent one on YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/v/_TVXkKaHnUs
Transfigured Wind II is for computer and tape, it seems to take on the form of a large scale piece, concerto like at times, you can hear it on this CD, Harvey Sollberger playing
(https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0272/9220/5135/products/image_a85576b5-7ede-444d-94d4-083c9d577453_900x.jpg?v=1585444416)
I haven't been able to hear Transfigured Wind III
Transfigured Wind IV is for flute with a subtle electronics, it feels like a chamber piece, much longer than Transfigured Wind I - it's on this CD. Harvey Sollberger again.
(https://d1iiivw74516uk.cloudfront.net/eyJidWNrZXQiOiJwcmVzdG8tY292ZXItaW1hZ2VzIiwia2V5IjoiODA1NTI0Mi4xLmpwZyIsImVkaXRzIjp7InJlc2l6ZSI6eyJ3aWR0aCI6MzAwfSwianBlZyI6eyJxdWFsaXR5Ijo2NX0sInRvRm9ybWF0IjoianBlZyJ9LCJ0aW1lc3RhbXAiOjE0MTgzODY1MTh9)
An outstanding, expressive and well recorded, performance of James Dillon's Sgothan here. There are others, including a commercial one from Cécile Daroux, and one on soundcloud from Richard Craig, but this is the one which makes it into the most interesting music for me, today.
https://www.youtube.com/v/1uT9MLqs8LY
Hans Joachim Hespos, Duma for flute, and rather nice too.
https://www.youtube.com/v/W2qJMn0pfcw&ab_channel=TrentonHoppe
Doctorate on Finnissy's flute pieces here
https://escholarship.org/content/qt4sc6x6h2/qt4sc6x6h2.pdf?t=o9qi3w&v=lg
(https://assets.boomkat.com/spree/products/474209/large/SUBLOGOS003LP_CU.jpg)
David Toop is, amongst other things, a flute player. These recordings are free improvisations made with percussionist Paul Burrell. The music really does inspire the imagination, it has the sort of magic which the Shaman singers have in the recordings Toop made and released on this CD, which is also highly recommendable - as is Burwell's obituary in The Independent, which I've linked.
(https://assets.boomkat.com/spree/products/352523/large/5411867113799.jpg)
https://web.archive.org/web/20070507030128/http://news.independent.co.uk/people/obituaries/article2251315.ece
Manuel Zurria plays some interesting music by minimalists and avant-gardists on this CD:
(https://img.discogs.com/N-z2ll-GPQueQTgosgwkn60OTmo=/fit-in/300x300/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(90)/discogs-images/R-1256778-1207720563.jpeg.jpg)
my favourite piece being Luc Ferrari's Madame de Shanghai which combines music for flute trio with field recordings & excerpts from Orson Welles' Lady from Shanghai
I once owned a copy of this interesting CD:
(https://img.discogs.com/Rdky5EcyL07GnhcY5OSdxmkNSUM=/fit-in/300x300/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(40)/discogs-images/R-1672765-1390600482-8609.jpeg.jpg)
Dizzy Divinity I (Turin 1985) for flute alone
Byzantine Prayer (1988) for 40 flutists with 72 flutes
Frenetico Il Longing Di Amare (1984/87) for bass voice, octobass or double-bass flute and sound icon
Capricorn's Nostalgic Crickets II (1980)
I recall having high hopes for the "flute orchestra" piece Byzantine Prayer, but I don't believe the recording was able to capture what it must sound like live.
I think Mandryka's posted elsewhere on Radulescu's Inner Time and Inner Time II (solo clarinet and 7 clarinets resp.).
https://www.youtube.com/v/vdCRu8TJRpg&ab_channel=EberhardBlum-Topic
Ernstalbrecht Stiebler's Three in One for bass flute and taped flutes was inspired by Ad Reinhardt's black paintings -- I think it's gorgeous
(https://www.moma.org/d/assets/W1siZiIsIjIwMTYvMDcvMDcvN3ZoMGYzOGRhNF9JTjE1ODVfMDA5X3Bvc3RfYXNfdHJpbW1lZC5qcGciXSxbInAiLCJjb252ZXJ0IiwiLXF1YWxpdHkgOTAgLXJlc2l6ZSAyMDAweDIwMDBcdTAwM2UiXV0/IN1585_009_post_as_trimmed.jpg?sha=9e85a87946cf218b)
https://www.youtube.com/v/DwrBbMBcD7Y&ab_channel=elizabethjigalin
Sciarrino's Il cerchio tagliato dei suoni is for 4 solo flutes and a 100 strong flute band who walk around the auditorium, good to have this video.
(https://d1iiivw74516uk.cloudfront.net/eyJidWNrZXQiOiJwcmVzdG8tY292ZXItaW1hZ2VzIiwia2V5IjoiNzk5NDY0NS4xLmpwZyIsImVkaXRzIjp7InJlc2l6ZSI6eyJ3aWR0aCI6MzAwfSwianBlZyI6eyJxdWFsaXR5Ijo2NX0sInRvRm9ybWF0IjoianBlZyJ9LCJ0aW1lc3RhbXAiOjE1Mjk5OTQ4MTV9)
Slightly enjoying Aldo Clementi's Fantasi su RoBErto FABriciAni on this, in a masochistic sort of way - can someone tell me what the story is behind those capital letters? The sound makes me think of Feldman's For Samuel Beckett, but I can listen to this for longer (can't abide the Feldman!) Clementi is, IMO, the vaguely acceptable face of ostinato based minimalism.
Came to Clementi via Christopher Fox. I also think there's a connection to Michael Finnissy. He's a respected, if not loved, composer I suppose.
This flute project by Claire Chase is interesting:
https://www.corbettvsdempsey.com/2020/11/19/claire-chase/
I'll have to listen to as many online clips as I can find before saying more.
Blurb from above site:
In 2013, Claire Chase instigated a project designed to cultivate an entirely new body of work for flute. A MacArthur Fellow, Harvard professor, and indomitable musical force who co-founded the International Contemporary Ensemble, Chase began commissioning work, with the idea of doing so until thecentennial of Edgard Varése's seminal flute solo "Density 21.5," in 2036. This deluxe 4-CD set is the first fruit of these commissions, realized in the first three years of the project, featuring 17 works by 15 composers, including the multi-part album-long composition "Pan" by Brazilian-born Marcos Balter. Composers wrote for all members of Chase's flute family, from piccolo to "Big Bertha" (her contrabass flute), as well as electronics, voice, and a handful of other instruments. Tyshawn Sorey performed percussion on his contribution and Suzanne Farrin played Ondes Martenot on hers; Roomful of Teeth collaborate with Chase on one piece, and sound designer Levy Lorenzo handles the electronics throughout. Participants come from a wide range of creative contemporary music circles; they include Richard Beaudoin, Nathan Davis, Jason Eckardt, Dai Fujikura, Vijay Iyer, Felipe Lara, Mario Diaz de Leon, George Lewis, Pauline Oliveros, Pauchi Sasaki, Francesca Verunelli, and Du Yun. The exquisitely detailed recordings of Density 2036 were made at the Meyer Sound Laboratories in Berkeley and produced by Matias Tarnopolsky over the course of four years, with no overdubbing or corrections, presenting Chase's incredible musicality in all its glory.
Quote from: T. D. on January 28, 2021, 06:43:27 PM
This flute project by Claire Chase is interesting:
https://www.corbettvsdempsey.com/2020/11/19/claire-chase/
I'll have to listen to as many online clips as I can find before saying more.
Blurb from above site:
In 2013, Claire Chase instigated a project designed to cultivate an entirely new body of work for flute. A MacArthur Fellow, Harvard professor, and indomitable musical force who co-founded the International Contemporary Ensemble, Chase began commissioning work, with the idea of doing so until thecentennial of Edgard Varése's seminal flute solo "Density 21.5," in 2036. This deluxe 4-CD set is the first fruit of these commissions, realized in the first three years of the project, featuring 17 works by 15 composers, including the multi-part album-long composition "Pan" by Brazilian-born Marcos Balter. Composers wrote for all members of Chase's flute family, from piccolo to "Big Bertha" (her contrabass flute), as well as electronics, voice, and a handful of other instruments. Tyshawn Sorey performed percussion on his contribution and Suzanne Farrin played Ondes Martenot on hers; Roomful of Teeth collaborate with Chase on one piece, and sound designer Levy Lorenzo handles the electronics throughout. Participants come from a wide range of creative contemporary music circles; they include Richard Beaudoin, Nathan Davis, Jason Eckardt, Dai Fujikura, Vijay Iyer, Felipe Lara, Mario Diaz de Leon, George Lewis, Pauline Oliveros, Pauchi Sasaki, Francesca Verunelli, and Du Yun. The exquisitely detailed recordings of Density 2036 were made at the Meyer Sound Laboratories in Berkeley and produced by Matias Tarnopolsky over the course of four years, with no overdubbing or corrections, presenting Chase's incredible musicality in all its glory.
Claire Chase is a phenomenal artist. I first came across her music in 2012 with the recording,
Terrestre but I haven't listened to or even thought about her in a long time.
(https://www.newfocusrecordings.com/site/assets/files/2318/fcr122_cover.540x0.jpg)
So, thanks for bringing her latest project to my attention. Density 2036 sounds like a very interesting thing to keep up with.
More information (through 2020) and short video clips here:
http://www.clairechase.net/densityoverview
I wish I'd seen the live performances. The lineup of composers is impressive.
Article by Bruce Hodges (Brewski?) here: http://www.clairechase.net/density-2036-part-vi
What happens if you play seven flutes at the same time? Fausto Romitelli has the answer
https://www.youtube.com/v/NF2hkK0bdwU&t=521s&ab_channel=MHL-Streaming
https://www.youtube.com/v/1SYTdp4Ql_c&ab_channel=HansBalmer
Salvatore Sciarrino's
Come vengono prodotti gli incantesimi? Comments from Nicholas Hodges paper "A Volcano Viewed from Afar: The Music of Salvatore Sciarrino",
Tempo No. 194 (Cambridge 1995.)
QuoteThe piece describes a curve which grows in density and solidity throughout, starting with unblown key taps and becoming denser through, at first, the intensification of movement and widening of harmonic range, and then the intervention of blown notes, becoming more and more prominent in the texture. In 'Entretien avec Salvatore Sciarrino', in Entretemps No.9. (Paris 1991) Sciarrino mentions in connexion with this the tradition of final movements which represent a virtuosi culmination - a tradition which can be traced through late Haydn and late Beethoven (a preoccupation of Sciarrino's) to Liszt - and many others of his works bear an active, conscious relationship with this tradition. In the present case the piece confounds expectations of a final pyrotechnic display: it completely loses its confidence, and retreats into mournful tremolo warbles. There are a few brief attempts at a repeated intensification - which fail, leaving the piece to end unresolved.
This is an explicit formal reference, not for reference's sake, but to make a point about perception. Sciarrino notes that 'in order to hold the attention it is necessary always to escalate; and that is what the piece contradicts.'
Quote from: Selig on December 26, 2020, 05:06:54 PM
Manuel Zurria plays some interesting music by minimalists and avant-gardists on this CD:
(https://img.discogs.com/N-z2ll-GPQueQTgosgwkn60OTmo=/fit-in/300x300/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(90)/discogs-images/R-1256778-1207720563.jpeg.jpg)
my favourite piece being Luc Ferrari's Madame de Shanghai which combines music for flute trio with field recordings & excerpts from Orson Welles' Lady from Shanghai
I've only just noticed this. It's very good, thanks. I like the whole CD with the Ferrari.