| Finding
Your Path
Dear
Flutewise friends, I hope you are doing wonderful and exciting things
as spring approaches. I would like to share with you some of my
recent activities and events.
On
February 8, I travelled from my home in Philadelphia to Alexandria,
Virginia, to appear as guest artist at the Mid-Atlantic Flute Fair,
sponsored by the Flute Society of Washington. Alexandria is close
to Washington, DC. The fair was very well attended this year, and
I visited with old friends and met many new colleagues.
The
February 9-10 fair was delightfully varied for me. I performed a
recital, taught a masterclass, gave a talk at a breakfast, judged
a competition, and performed on a local composers concert. For my
recital program, I chose old favourites of the flute repertoire
such as Eldin Burton's Sonatina, Frank Martin's Ballade, and Lowell
Liebermann's Sonata, and newer flute pieces such as my arrangements
of Debussy Songs for Flute and Piano (which will be published by
the Theodore Presser Company in spring 2002), Astor Piazzolla's
Libertango, and the Brazilian piece Tico Tico for an encore.
The
theme of my breakfast talk was "finding your own path,"
based on my experiences combining my career in music with graduate
studies in history at the University of Pennsylvania. I told the
audience, made up of flute teachers, students and parents, that
I think it's very important to have interests outside of music,
particularly academic interests. You might love history as I do,
or literature, foreign languages, math, science, art. Studying other
subjects makes us well-rounded people and enriches our music-making.
You should be engaged in the wider world around you and keep informed
about current events. Expose yourself to a wide variety of subjects,
and when it's time to pick one to concentrate on, be sure that it's
something you love to do. Follow your individual interests and find
your own path.
I had
the opportunity to listen to several talented young flutists in
my masterclass and the competition I judged. At the masterclass,
flutists played the Nielsen and Liebermann Concertos. I had all
the attendees who had their flutes with them play a warm-up session
with me, then I closed the class by performing the Gershwin Prelude
#2. I enjoy and learn a lot from teaching, whether it's my own students
or flutists I teach in masterclasses.
At
the concert of music by local composers, I performed Larry Ink's
Sonata for Two Flutes with the composer. This is a terrific piece
and a lot of fun to play. After the concert, flutists ran down to
the exhibition hall to buy the Ink Sonata. The nice thing about
a flute fair is that exhibitors come together in a central place
to display their music, flutes and other items.
Flute
fairs are a great way to hear recitals, flute choirs and chamber
music, to try flutes, experience new repertoire, and exchange ideas
with fellow flutists. I look forward to participating in your Flutewise
fairs. Perhaps some of you will be attending the National Flute
Association's August 2002 convention in Washington, DC. I'll be
performing there, and the packed schedule of events looks very exciting.
Not only will you enjoy the flute convention, but you'll have the
opportunity to see the sights of my nation's beautiful capital.
I returned
to Philadelphia to spend the week performing as substitute flutist
in The Philadelphia Orchestra. It is a great honour to sit in this
magnificent orchestra, next to principal flute Jeffrey Khaner, my
teacher from the Curtis Institute of Music, and other coaches of
mine from Curtis, principal oboe Richard Woodhams and principal
clarinet Donald Montanaro. This week the program, conducted by Neeme
Järvi, included the Rheinhold Glière Symphony #3, "Ilya
Murometz". This is the first time that the entire work was
performed by The Philadelphia Orchestra. Leopold Stokowski conducted
the premiere of the piece, and both he and Eugene Ormandy recorded
it with the orchestra, but always made cuts. The Symphony belongs
to the genre of program music, which is music that tells a story.
(I talked about program music in my Fall 2001 column.) Ilya Murometz
is a legendary Russian peasant who lived roughly during the time
of Grand Prince Vladimir, who adopted Christianity for Russia in
1988 C.E. The piece depicts Ilya's adventures, including his heroic
battles against monsters, Mongols and the heavenly host, as well
as sleigh journeys through Russia and Prince Vladimir's opulent
court in Kiev.
You'll
be interested to know that the Glière Symphony is another
addition to the "Flute-Bird Connection" I wrote about
in my Fall 2001 column. In the second movement, Ilya enters a forest
where a monstrous robber lures his victims with the song of the
nightingale, supplied by three flutes and piccolo, or two flutes
and two piccolos playing rapid bird calls throughout the movement.
We're all playing our bird calls with great energy, but Ilya escapes
the nightingale's song!
Friends and fellow students from the University of Pennsylvania
attended my concerts with The Philadelphia Orchestra. It is very
gratifying to share my music with my friends, and to have my two
great loves - music and history - intertwine in this way.
What
are you doing to find your own path? I look forward to hearing about
your activities, and to answering your flute-related questions in
a future column.
Rheinhold
Gliere (1875-19) Russian composer, born in Kiev. Taught
Prokofiev, influenced by Rimsky-Korsakov, Borodin, Scriabin, Russian
folk music. Composer of three symphonies, ballets, concertos. Wrote
Symphony #3 (1909-1911)
Eugene
Ormandy (1899-1985) Conductor of The Philadelphia Orchestra
(1938-74).
Leopold
Stokowski (1882-1977) Conductor of The Philadelphia Orchestra
(1912-37).
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