Program Note
The Sonata for solo flute is a musical portrait of my friend and colleague James Kortum. Its inspiration comes from working with James over many years. We taught in adjacent rooms at Newcastle Conservatorium, hearing James practice was always part of my day. His wizzy technique on the flute, a luscious slow movement, and the orchestral repertoire for flute - Mendelssohn’s Midsummer Nights dream is a favorite. On hearing whistle tones for the first time, I knew that this eerie sound would have to be a feature of the Sonata.
Contents: Space Squaw, What's That Thing?, All the Things That Art
Composer notes
Burwood Park for solo flute was composed in 2008 for Brisbane-based flautist, Janet McKay, for a concert at the Queensland Art Gallery in South Bank.
This piece is named after a park situated in a Western Sydney suburb. Programmatically, Burwood Park consists of five sections depicting the sounds of nature and people we come across as we walk through the park: birds and the wind in the trees, children singing and playing, chess players getting stressed and agitated, screaming and shouting at each other and Tai Chi dancing.
Burwood Park begins in a slow, mysterious and improvisatory style. A quirky, rhythmic, birdcall motif emerges, gradually transforming into a scene of angry chess players. This is a very loud, fast, exciting and virtuosic passage which showcases the technical ability of the flautist. The final section is based on a pentatonic scale to imitate the Asian music typical of Tai Chi. A tranquil and meditative atmosphere should be conveyed to represent the Tai Chi dancers in the park; their slow dance movements moving along to the peaceful music. Whistle tone and singing techniques produce a range of soft harmonic effects to end the work.
Burwood Park features a range of extended techniques including bend, vibrato, flutter- tonguing, tongue-ram, air and key click articulation, jet whistle, whistle tone, singing, colour trill and multiphonic effects. All fingerings for the multiphonics and colour trills and other contemporary playing techniques are clearly shown on the score.
The duration of Burwood Park is 6 minutes.
Contents: Allemande, Courante, Sarabande, Gigue, Passacaglia
Contents: A Day in the Sun, Bossa, Butterflies, Cool Cat, Dreams, Flat Out, Japanese Garden, Jazz Waltz, Ocean Spray, Over the Sea, Summer Days, Whisper on the Breeze
Contents: Leaping Turtles, Toy Waltz, Crunchy Footsteps, Butterflies Dancing, Figurine, Through My Window, First Climb, Cool Shoes, Clock And Tickle, Proof, Juggling Popcorn, Two Faces, Daisy Chain, Dragon-fly, Only One Cloud in the Sky, Summertime in Venice
Contents: Swing Thing, Jewell in a Stone, Cathy's Dream, A Lane in Wales, One Step at a Time, A Good Time Was Had By All, Duddles Chuckles, Heritage
Swing Thing: This piece began life as an easy saxophone quartet but translates well to flute and piano. Be sure to play the longs and shorts accurately as it really helps it swing. Accent beat 2 and 4 for the same reason. When there is a quaver on the second half of a beat followed by a rest, it should always be short (staccato as marked) it is good to imagine that there is a note on the following beat to help place the last quaver.
Jewel in a Stone: Written for Julia, this is the most recently written of the tunes in Lokked in. Julia decided that she didn’t feel like playing the C naturals that I had written so she played C sharps instead. I liked them so much that I changed the tune. There is much potential for some rubato and a very emotional performance of this piece. Some music turns out that way. Don’t play it too slowly but don’t hurry from one phrase to the next.
Cathy’s Dream: Cathy had Chronic Fatigue syndrome at school and bravely fought through it. Her dream was to be healthy. I played this at her wedding recently where she seemed extremely well. The feel is Latin American influenced and the syncopations can be tricky. Very slow practice with the metronome, thinking in quavers and leaving the ties out can help gain an understanding of the rhythms. This is a good one to practise with the piano part slowly from the early stages of its preparation.
A Lane in Wales: In 1993, on a “round the world walkabout,” I visited my relatives in Wales and went on some long, solitary walks. This tune seems to capture the spirit of some of the lanes I walked along. I enjoy playing this tune and love the more classical feel of it. It suits a more classical sound and a softer dynamic. I love the sound of this piece at a slower tempo too. Be gentle but firm with it. Be aware of when the phrases are one, two or four bars long and be careful not to break it up too much.
One Step at a Time: Named for Steph, to motivate her to practise. Well it didn’t work for her but it is a really fun piece to play with elements of rock in the eighties and a touch of David Sanborn. Thanks Dave.
Dig hard into the groove, the accents and the staccatos to really make it rock. A brighter sound and a generally stronger dynamic will suit this piece. The metronome is your best friend on this one.
A Good Time was Had by All: After a tour to Queensland with the school Stage Band, Yuki, a trombonist, asked me to write a piece for her VCE. I was honoured to do so and this was named as a celebration of the good time everyone had on the trip. It suits the flute just as well as the trombone and should be approached with a simple, not over-jazzy (or too cool) swing feel, emphasising the off-beat quavers and enjoying the fun in the music. The piano part really adds to the party so check it out as soon as you can.
Duddles Chuckles: I conceived this tune on the way home from a gig, named it after the unique laugh of one of my students, “Duddles” and arranged it for sax quartet before converting it to flute and piano. Play it with a bouncy swing feel in two, but emphasise (accent) the off-beats where quavers are slurred across the beat. There are some unusual staccatos which add to the character of the tune and make it less groovy or jazzy but more fun.
Heritage: I first took this tune (then un-named) to a gig at Bennetts Lane with unLokked (my jazz quartet) and subsequently recorded it on “A hot night in Burwood” released through Newmarket music. I consider it one of my best tunes. It has an obvious celtic influence but I know that Jan Garbarek and the Disney song, “Colours of the wind” were in the mix here too. This version is a simplified version of the original with far fewer ornaments than I would normally play but it still maintains its integrity and emotion. Play it with strength, commitment and honesty.
