Because Syrinx is so last century.
#11 - Yorishiro by Tilmann Dehnhard (2018)
Yorishiro is the newest work by Tilmann Dehnhard, who wrote the book(s) on extended techniques. This work is a study in wind sounds, simultaneous singing/playing, key clicks, and more in a descriptive performance piece. Written for an open hole flute with a B-foot, the score includes Dehnhard's instructions on the techniques used.
#10 - Asia by Sophie Dufeutrelle (2002)
A short and accessible work by French Flutist Sophie Dufeutrelle, Asia uses traditional pentatonic scales and shakuhachi-inspired techniques to create 4-minutes of tranquil escape - perfect sandwiched between two large works in a recital!
#9 - A Night in New Orleans by Eric Ewazen (2015)
Ewazen's A Night in New Orleans is a tour-de-force: a 12-minute work for solo flute which is at once a three-movement sonatine, a colorful travelogue, a venture into New Orleans jazz and zydeco styles, and a showcase for the flutist's versatility and endurance.
#8 - Air is the Heaviest Metal by Robert Dick (2015)
The third piece in Robert Dick’s series of solo flute works based on American popular musics. Air Is the Heaviest Metal is Dick’s take on Speed Metal and Metallica. Intense, exciting, rhapsodic and powerful, this challenging work will burn the house down in your concerts!
#7 - Memory by Chen Yi (2011)
Chen Yi has created a solo flute version of this plaintive memorial work, originally for solo violin, written for a late professor. Chen “expressed [her] deep sorrow in the music, to remember your fatherly mentorship. Your meaningful smile will always be with us encouragingly.”
#6 - To Greet the Sun by Katherine Hoover (2004)
Deceptively difficult, To Greet the Sun by Katherine Hoover is a mystical and spiritual work that captures the power, grace, and mystery of the sun. An excellent recital piece for advanced conservatory-level players.
#5 - Two Skazkas by Lora Al-Ahmad (2019)
Definitely one of the best new works of 2019, Two Skazkas by Bulgarian piano prodigy Lora Al-Ahmad was written for and championed by Stefan Hoskuldsson (Principal Flute of the Chicago Symphony). Al-Ahmad, who studied with Lowell Liebermann at the Mannes School in New York City, does not give her skazkas (Russian for “stories”) titles, leaving it to our imaginations to spin our own fantasy-inspired fairy tales.
#4 - Danza de la Mariposa by Valerie Coleman (2008)
Valerie Coleman’s rich and colorful Danza de la Mariposa is inspired by the Yaravi, a Peruvian lament song, giving the listener a tour of the butterflies of South America, who dance and weave in syncopated rhythms while alternating between meters in 3 and 4.
#3 - Within for Piccolo, Flute, and Alto Flute with CD Backing by Ian Clarke (2003)
Evoking a lonely Native American landscape, Within requires pitch bends, quarter-tones, beatboxing, and alternative timbres for successful execution, and the performer will switch between flute, piccolo and alto flute within one exciting and grooving 8-minute performance.
#2 - Chiaroscuro by Gary Schocker (2017)
This gem of a piece is reminiscent of the CPE Bach Sonata for Flute Alone in A minor, written in a 21st Century musical vocabulary but without any extended techniques. An instant addition to the standard repertoire for solo flute.
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