Download Program Notes- Part 2 - James Thompson, Flutist

Three Pieces for Solo Flute, Pierre Octave Ferroud
Pierre Octave Ferroud (1900-1936) was a French composer. He grew up near
Lyon, France, where he studied organ with Edouard Commette and composition with
Florent Schmitt. From 1920-1922 he moved to Strasbourg, France, where he took
composition lessons with Guy Ropartz. Subsequently he moved to Paris and established
himself as a prominent young composer, composing orchestral works, ballets, and one
opera. His compositional style was significantly influenced by Bartok’s music. Sadly, he
died quite young in a car crash in 1936. The “Three Pieces for Solo Flute” were
composed from 1921-1922, and each was dedicated to a different person. The first
“Bergère Captive,” which translates to “Captive Shepherd,” was composed in Strasbourg
in July of 1921, and dedicated to Henry Malsert. The second, “Jade,” was dedicated to
Madame Genevieve Petit and was written in Lyon in November of 1921. The final piece,
“Toan-Yan: La Fête du Double Cinq,” was written in February of 1922 in Lyon, and
dedicated to a professor at the Strasbourg Conservatoire named Monsieur Krauss. Each
of these three pieces demonstrates significant influence from East Asian music, a
common trend in early 20th century French music. The first piece, “Bergère Captive,”
invokes a plaintive but pastoral mood with sinuous melodies and a great deal of freedom
brought about by fluctuating tempos. “Jade” is very fast and rhythmic, and demonstrates
strongly Asiatic influences of pentatonic melodies and pitch bends. “Toan-Yan” depicts
a Chinese festival “Double Five,” meaning the fifth day of the fifth month. This piece
has extended improvisatory sections, lively melodies, pentatonic influences, and a slower
theme in which the player is instructed to imitate a Chinese flute in a chanting style with
extreme simplicity and imprecise rhythm.
Flûtes en Vacances, Jacques Castérède
Jacques Castérède was a French composer who lived from 1926-2014. He
studied piano, composition, and analysis at the Paris Conservatoire, and won the
Conservatoire’s prestigious Prix de Rome in 1953. He spent much of his career as a
professor of composition at the Paris Conservatoire. Castérède composed a great number
of works, including much sacred music, orchestral works, chamber music, and piano
pieces. Interestingly, his compositional style, which features tonality, straightforward
rhythm, and prominent melodies, marginalized him during the mid-20th century. This
was a time when the preference for atonality and the Avant-Garde was strong. Gérard
Condé says of Castérède’s music, “He favours modality and consonance, elements that
create a meditative and private temperament best expressed in his slow movements.”
“Flûtes en Vacances,” a trio for flutes with an optional fourth flute part, translates
to “Flutes on Holiday,” and was written in 1962. This charismatic four-movement work
is meant to depict a trip to the French countryside. The four movements are entitled
“Flûtes Pastorales” (Pastoral Flutes), “Flûtes Joyeuses” (Joyous Flutes), “Flûtes
Rêveuses” (Dreamy Flutes), and “Flûtes Légères” (Light Flutes), respectively.
Sonata in G Minor, BWV 1020, J.S. (?) Bach
The Sonata in G Minor is a piece from the late Baroque period. As with many Baroque
period works, the instrumentation is flexible. Originally written for violin and basso continuo
(harpsichord plus cello), this piece works equally well on flute or oboe and either piano or
harpsichord, and is often performed by flutists today. This Sonata is a three movement work,
with the outer movements both being marked Allegro, in the key of G minor, and featuring a
contrapuntal style. The middle movement, a more homophonic Adagio, is in the submediant key
of E flat major. The authorship of this piece has been contested for decades. It is often attributed
to J.S. Bach (1685-1750), the great German Baroque composer. J.S. Bach was a hugely prolific
composer, and he held three major positions during his career. The first was the position of Court
Organist and Concertmaster of Weimar, which he held from 1708-1717. The next was
Kapellmeister of Cöthen from 1717-1723, and the final, from 1723-1750, was the position of
Cantor in Leipzig, where Bach was responsible for music at four Lutheran churches. It is quite
likely that this piece may have been composed by one of Bach’s sons, Carl Philipp Emanuel
(1714-1788), who was very successful as a composer in his own right. Scholars have pointed to
galant style gestures and the relative equality of the flute and keyboard parts in this Sonata as
indications of C.P.E. Bach’s style. Originally, this piece was attributed to either the Bach family
name or to C.P.E. Bach. Later it was limited to just J.S. Bach, but by the 1930s, scholars disputed
this claim, comparing the work to other Bach Flute Sonatas of doubtful origin, such as the E flat
Major Sonata. It was subsequently listed as a work of C.P.E. Bach again, but further analysis of
C.P.E. Bach’s style called this into question, and scholars debated if someone outside the Bach
family had actually written this piece. Most recently, it has been suggested that the piece might
have been the result of a collaborative teaching effort between J.S. and C.P.E. Bach, but there is
still no definitive answer on the authorship of this work.
Density 21.5, Edgard Varèse
Born in Paris, Edgard Varèse (1883-1965) was a French composer who spent
much of his life in the United States. He studied at the Paris Conservatoire under
Charles-Marie Widor, and moved to the United States in 1915. He avoided the
systematic approaches of tonality and serialism, and instead focused on free tonality,
timbre, pitch range, and dynamics to create compositional innovation. He believed in
music as organized sound, and experimented with the use of percussion instruments. In
addition, his pioneering of electronic music is especially notable. Some of his most
famous compositions include Amériques, an orchestral work; Octandre, for mixed
chamber ensemble; Ionisation, for percussion; Density 21.5 for solo flute; Déserts, for
winds, percussion and tape; and Poème électronique, for electronics.
Density 21.5, which refers to the density of platinum (21.5), was composed by
Varèse in 1936 for Georges Barrère to inaugurate Barrère’s new platinum flute. In
keeping with Varèse’s musical aesthetics, Density 21.5 utilizes free tonality, a vast range
of dynamics, and very precise rhythms. The piece also displays Varèse’s fondness for
percussive timbres with its use of slap key effects. The nine fourth octave D’s of the
second page of the piece also demonstrates Varèse’s interest in utilizing a huge pitch
range. This landmark composition of the unaccompanied flute repertoire is a stunning in
the way it draws on all the flutist’s resources of tone color, expression, and precision.