Concerto for Flute ‘The Winds of Winter’ (2005)
duration 15:00
flute solo and 12 players (chamber orchestra)
Premiered by the Slee Sinfonietta at SUNY Buffalo
Listen to the complete work, Derek Charke, Flute with the Slee Sinfonietta, SUNY BuffaloTHE WINDS OF WINTER (2005) is a composition for amplified solo flute and twelve piece chamber orchestra. The duration of the piece is approximately fifteen minutes. The score is transposed to reading pitch. The piece is synthesis of my research into contemporary flute literature, performance practice and technique, and my compositional interests and studies. As such the solo flute becomes the primary impetus for most of the material through out the work. For example, harmonic material is derived from multiphonics produced on the flute. Extended flute techniques such as key clicks, tongue pizzicatos, timbre trills and singing are frequently passed between the chamber ensemble and the solo flute. Wind sounds, glissando effects and trills are also integral to this work. In the hope of achieving a more malleable and fluid sense of time alternation of free form, aleatoric and graphic notation, and quasi-improvisational techniques work in conjunction with standard notational practice. Thus moments of absolute rhythmic activity are easily juxtaposed with free form sections of relative and approximate duration. This alternation allows everyone - the composer, the flute soloist, the ensemble musicians and the conductor moments in which to shape temporal domains within the piece.
Media Details
Amplification of the solo part is required. The solo flute is amplified to match the level of the ensemble. Two speakers are placed on either side of the ensemble to project the solo flute sound.