Cécile Chaminade, born on this day in 1857, was the first female composer to receive the Légion d’Honneur, the highest order of merit from the French government. While better known for her flute Concertino, this smaller piece is a lovely example of her French romantic composition style.
Performed by Jennifer Parker-Harley
Recorded by Jeff Francis
Jacques Ibert, born on this day in 1890, was a successful French composer. Pièce, according to an oft-told legend, was supposedly written over the course of a dinner party celebrating the premiere of Ibert’s flute concerto and was sight-read by Marcel Moyse on the same night. Regardless of the legend, this charming solo is a perfect reflection of Ibert’s neo-classical style and represents a large body of work inspired by the master flutist, Moyse.
Brianna Futch received her MM degree from USC in 2018.
Ernst Dohnanyi, born on this day in 1877, was a Hungarian composer whose career was modulated significantly by the two World Wars and the political upheaval surrounding them. His compositions are often neoromantic and their extensive use of chromaticism couples intriguing harmonies with high technical demands. Many flutists are familiar with his Passacaglia but this piece adds a more lyrical item to his flute output offering a taste of his lush harmonic language.
Jenny Davis is a Doctor of Musical Arts candidate at USC.
Performed by Jennifer Parker-Harley
Recorded by Jeff Francis
Rudolph Escher, was born on this day in 1912 in Amsterdam. He was a man of many gifts, respected not only as a composer, but also as a theorist, writer, artist and poet. The Sonata, Op. 16 was written in 1949.
Performed by Jennifer Parker-Harley
Recorded by Jeff Francis
Alex Shapiro, born on this day in 1962, is a composer, speaker, writer and activist based in California. Her piece, Shiny Kiss, is based on her own poem and is a sensual ode to the flute. www.alexshapiro.org
Katherine Hoover, born on this day in 1937, is an American composer and flutist living in New York. Winter Spirits is influenced by the sounds of Native American music, specifically the Hopi tribe of the American Southwest. An accomplished flutist herself, Hoover’s music capitalizes on the unique characteristics of the instrument, weaving together themes that are at times playful and at other times soaring.
Performed by Dorion Burkett
Paul Hindemith, born on this day in 1895, is one of the most significant composers of the early 20th century. His music is described in relation to musical movements including late romanticism, expressionism, and neoclassicism always putting his own spin on the values of each style. The 8 Pieces for solo flute demonstrate Hindemith’s depth of knowledge of the idiomatic tendencies of the instrument and his ability to craft beautiful and tonal melodies from non-diatonic pitch sets.
Performed by Emily Stumpf
Shulamit Ran is a Pultizer-Prize-winning, Israeli-American composer and was a long-time professor of composition at the University of Chicago. Winds from the east are used as symbology for deadly or chaotic events in biblical writings and poetry. East winds are also geographically ominous for Ran’s native Israel, originating from the Arabian desert and carrying high gusts and drought. “East Wind” is undoubtedly inspired by this connotation but mixes in moments of calm tranquility among sections marked “wild,” perhaps alluding to the contemplative nature of wind in addition to its disastrous qualities.
Philip Snyder received a DMA from the University of South Carolina in 2018.
Ned Rorem, born on this day in 1923, has been called “the world’s best composer of art songs.” This affinity for melody is clear in Four Prayers for flute and piano. Christopher Chaffee is the Professor of Flute at Wright State University and great friend of the University of South Carolina Flute Studio. His album Four Prayers is available from Open G Records.
Performed by Christopher Chaffee, flute and Joshua Nemith, piano.
