I knew I would enjoy composing a flute concerto.
Indeed, flutes abound in all my orchestral works and I have even written a sonata for tonight’s soloist and dedicatee Andrew Nicholson. But I also knew I wanted to avoid the textures of impressionism – definitely no Pan, fauns or mythological beasts this time; here I sought melodic immediacy and rhythmic drive, perhaps reflecting the Mozart, Weber, Copland clarinet concerti I learnt in my student days.
Don’t be fooled then, by the mysterious flute-laden introduction. It’s just a momentary ruse; the music soon urges and spirals up to a whirring tutti. The main theme arrives in the solo flute, its plaintive character singing with the melodic quality I was seeking. And the rhythmic energy is born in the flute’s ornamental flashes which soon overflow into the accompaniment. Such music calls for clarity and lightness, so I kept the orchestra itself quite small: notice the reduced strings, winds and brass, and a preference for mallet percussion over timpani or other large drums. Most important is the positioning of the piano right in the centre of the orchestra, so its clear attack accentuates the very front of the beat.
So with my sonic vision established, I let the music pour out and soon found I had four movements rather than the standard three. Much of their material I coaxed from a three-note melodic cell made from a falling step followed by a rising leap. Simple, innocuous even, and its shape echoes throughout the piece – forwards, backwards, upside-down, and skewed to the edges of recognition. Hear it in the first movement’s theme and vibrant outbursts, in the melodic contour of the Larghetto Espressivo second, and later in the third’s ethereal Misterioso. And it’s still there, squashed, in the fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants fourth movement.
But by this stage I suspect my compositional twists and turns will have been forgotten, because it’s a concerto, after all, and I definitely didn’t hold back on writing a virtuosic solo part. While I hope the music itself lingers as we leave the hall, I know we’ll likely all be swept up in the dazzling flute-work as the concerto builds to its finale.
I knew I would enjoy composing a flute concerto.
