Personal Sun Music/ASCAP

Distributed by SilverWinds Publishing

INSTRUMENTATION

Solo Alto Flute

4 C Flutes

Alto Flute

2 Bass Flutes

Contrabass 􀀗Flute

PROGRAM NOTE

A Colloquy is a conversation, and this piece is just that - a conversation between a soloist (alto flute) and a group (flute choir).

The piece was written on a commission from Lisa Norton, the principal alto flute player in Flutesonic, a Los Angeles area flute orchestra. My main goal right from the start was to show off the sheer beauty of sound that can be produced from the instrument, especially in those warm lower ranges. In order to do this, I had to work hard to keep the group from covering up the soloist. The format that I came up with has a lot of dialog, a lot of call and response. First the alto plays, then the group responds, then the alto again, then the group, and so on. The piece starts and ends with lengthy unaccompanied passages from the alto, with minimal contributions from the ensemble, to give us a chance to soak up the glorious sound that is the alto flute. As it grows, the two elements intertwine more and more, but the really loud passages are always saved for the group, with short interjections from the soloist to break things up.

The form is a simple slow/fast/slow. Things get rowdy in the middle, but eventually we wind up back at that juicy unaccompanied alto flute to bring the piece to a quiet close.

This is a digital version of the piece that you can download as a PDF and print .