Posts Tagged ‘flute’

Iberian Impressions

Saturday, November 13th, 2021

Iberian Impressions

Iberian Impressions is an evocative collaboration between myself and artist Ian Fink, culminating in a solo flute piece steeped in the rich musical heritage of Spain. This composition was born out of a reflective conversation with friends about a concert tour in Spain back in 1992. It prominently features the Spanish Gypsy scale, also known as the Phrygian dominant scale, and draws inspiration from the distinctive performances of Eric Dolphy and Pharoah Sanders in John Coltrane’s Olé.

As the music of Iberian Impressions came to life, it spurred Ian Fink’s artistic creativity, leading him to create a painting titled “August 17, 2020.” This painting, featured in the accompanying video, captures the surreal day when San Francisco’s skies were shrouded in orange, a vivid reminder of the wildfires raging in the surrounding areas. The intersection of music and visual art in this project offers a profound and multi-sensory experience, encapsulating a moment in time marked by both cultural richness and environmental poignancy.

The world premiere of Iberian Impressions took place at the SFCCO virtual concert on November 13, 2021 . It was also well-received during its showcase at an art and music event hosted by MENSA later in the same month.

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Concerto for Musician

Sunday, May 9th, 2004

     I finished writing a new guided improvisation orchestra piece called Concerto for Musician. Concerto for Musician, what does that mean? Unlike traditional concerto, which are usually for a particular instrument, Concerto for Musician is for a multi-instrumentalist. The first movement is for a soprano instrument, then second movement is for an alto instrument and the last movement is for a bass instrument. At the world premiere the “musician” was me, the composer. I played the first movement on flute, then second movement on alto saxophone and the third moment on bassoon.

     Each movement has a feeling or sound, which is reflected in the movement’s title. The first movement is entitled: Cosmological. This movement has a vast sound with flares of energy and twinkling. The first movement tapers in to the second movement, which is entitled: Mechanical. This movement has a fast pulse and sounds like many mechanisms working at once. Aqualogical is the title of the third movement, which has an organic and liquid sound. One can hear the depths and breadth of the ocean in this movement.

    Concerto for Musician uses an unusual compositional technique: guided improvisation. As apposed to free improvisation where everyone does what ever they hear or see fit during the music, guided improvisation uses some rules to limited the sounds and directions so the composer can get the sound and feeling he is after. Standard Jazz music could be considered guide improvisation, but the “rules” in Concerto for Musician are different then the rules of Jazz music. Some of the techniques used in this work are based on Larry Ochs’ “Radar” techniques. The soloist follows some rules as well, but is basically aloud to do want he/she wants. The soloist is encourage to use extend techniques like multi-phonics (playing more then one note at a time) and sounds on the instruments that are appropriate to the movement. The SFCCO premiered this piece (Program Notes) on May 9th, this performance would not be possible if it was not for the Subito grant I was awarded from the American Composers Forum.

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