#4459, New Music For Flute(s)

Get into new music for flute and electronics by Du Yun and Marcos Balter for Claire Chase, part of her Density 2036 commissioning project. Plus, Frances White's music for shakuhachi.

Since founding the International Contemporary Ensemble in 2001, the flutist, collaborator, curator, and educator Claire Chase has been commissioning, playing, and recording new works for flute and becoming something of a new music evangelist. She’s launched a 23-year commissioning project, Density 2036, in honor of what will be the centenary of  Edgard Varèse’s 1936 flute solo, Density 21.5 and we’ll hear two of these works. First, Pessoa for bass flute and electronics by New York-based composer Marcos Balter, which calls for six layers of Claire Chase and her extended techniques. Then, listen to music by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Du Yun for the commissioning project. It’s a work for flute and electronics called “An Empty Garlic,” inspired by an image from the poetry of Rumi.  

Also, hear work by Frances White, an American composer based at Princeton, who is also a student of the traditional Japanese flute, the shakuhachi.  It’s her work “Centre Bridge” (one of the bridges that connects New Jersey and Pennsylvania) for two shakuhachi and electronics, which features Elizabeth Brown, master of the shakuhachi: a traditional Japanese flute. Plus, there’s music by California-based flutist, conductor, and professor, who both composes and improvises, James Newton. It’s from his 1981 ECM release, Axum, which seems to incorporate both the sounds of Ethiopian music and Debussy. - Caryn Havlik

Program #4459, New Music For Flute(s) (First Aired 2/10/2021)

ARTIST: Elizabeth Brown
WORK: Frances White: Centre Bridge [1:00]
RECORDING: CENTRE BRIDGE:ELECTROACUSTIC WORKS
SOURCE: Mode #184
INFO: moderecords.com

ARTIST: Claire Chase
WORK: Marcos Balter: Pessoa [9:03]
RECORDING: Density 2036- parts i & ii 
SOURCE: New Focus 135
INFO: newfocusrecordings.com | clairechase.bandcamp.com

ARTIST: James Newton
WORK: The Neser [7:58]
RECORDING: Axum
SOURCE: ECM 1214
INFO: ecmrecords.com/home

ARTIST: Elizabeth Brown
WORK: Frances White: Centre Bridge [12:12]
RECORDING: CENTRE BRIDGE:ELECTROACUSTIC WORKS
SOURCE: Mode #184
INFO: moderecords.com

ARTIST: Claire Chase
WORK: Du Yun:  An Empty Garlic [14:26]
RECORDING: Density 2036- parts i & ii 
SOURCE/INFO: clairechase.bandcamp.com

ARTIST: James Newton
WORK: Land of Enchantment [3:30]
RECORDING: Echo Canyon
SOURCE: Celestial Harmonies 13012
INFO: harmonies.com