# Flute Sonatine



## Ian Moore

If people were worried about Adieu, then they are going to be amazed by the register leaping in the Flute Sonatine. The title is ironic. This is a full blooded and virtuoso composition. Do you think that flute players should be expected to work this hard for a sonatine? I would love to have feedback about the technical aspirations of this piece. E.g. Is it realistically extending the flute players range? Or is it just too difficult?


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## Mahlerian

Your performer certainly seems to be struggling with some of the highest notes. Writing works that are difficult is not in itself an issue. The notation also looks far less cluttered than the other piece you posted a part of. If the way it came out is how you wanted it to sound, stick with it, of course.

The piece (even as a single movement) struck me as not having enough variation in tempo or gesture compared to works like Berio's Sequenza I.

That said, I would be interested in being able to hear the rest of the piece.


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## Ian Moore

No, I was not in any way trying to emulate the brilliant Berio Sequenza for flute. My work isn't about timbre. It's about polyphony and colour. They are as different as chalk and cheese. I should have mentioned that my Sonatine is over twenty years old. And, as I say, in my description on youtube, "it's looking its age"! It is a 'moto perpetuo' and rhythm is meant to be relentless but maybe it sticks to the same pattern for too long.
Nancy Ruffer is an excellent flautist and the way she has to grapple with this work, for me, makes it more exciting. Please can you tell me, does it extend the player or is it too difficult?


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## Vasks

Well, first the word "Sonatine" means little/short and has nothing to do with the level of technicality.

As for is it too difficult? Well, your performer was able to deal with most challenges quite well and the few that were less than perfect still were OK, so why worry? Well, maybe one would worry because being so hard it may limit the number of future performances, but if that's not a concern to you so be it.

Finally, do I personally think you spent too much time in the outer regions of the instrument? I always would love to wallow in the beautiful mid-range of any instrument at least for some of the time. Perhaps your other movement does so. But I found the piece to have some touches of lightness and perhaps a moment or two of near frivolity.


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## Mahlerian

Ian Moore said:


> No, I was not in any way trying to emulate the brilliant Berio Sequenza for flute. My work isn't about timbre. It's about polyphony and colour. They are as different as chalk and cheese. I should have mentioned that my Sonatine is over twenty years old. And, as I say, in my description on youtube, "it's looking its age"! It is a 'moto perpetuo' and rhythm is meant to be relentless but maybe it sticks to the same pattern for too long.


I didn't mean to compare your aims to those of Berio, necessarily. I am simply using it as an example of a piece that uses the full expressive range of the instrument. In the context of the other movements, this one may actually benefit from its single-minded focus on specific elements and extremes of the instrument's range.



Ian Moore said:


> Nancy Ruffer is an excellent flautist and the way she has to grapple with this work, for me, makes it more exciting. Please can you tell me, does it extend the player or is it too difficult?


Like I said, if you want to hear the performer has struggling to get a result, go for it and make your piece challenging. I remember you mentioned this on the oboe thread as well; as Vasks says, it may limit potential for performances, but if it excites you aesthetically, that shouldn't be a problem.


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## Ian Moore

Vasks, thank you for your kind comments about the 'touch of lightness'. Of course, the effect of frenetic, almost manic leaping around is intentional. It creates a wild palette of colour; like an artist that has suddenly gone into a frenzy. There are some long sections of the mid-range of the instrument in the first movement-it gradually builds up to the wildness of the second movement. What I meant by the irony of the title 'Sonatine' ("little sonata") is that naturally you would expect something which was light-hearted; nothing quite so wild.


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## Ian Moore

Mahlerian, I particularly like it when no matter how skilled the performer is you see a musician struggling to control the artistry of the music; a craftsman on the edge. I find it exciting and I think it's the same for the rest of the audience. With the exception of orchestral music, if my music was too easy for the performer, I would have to rewrite it.


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## aleazk

I liked this, "bubbly". Others have already pointed out the monotextural character of the movement, in register, rhythm, and gesture. Is this a problem?, that will depend on the other movements. I can envision situations in which can be a problem and others in which it's not. 

To stay that much in the outer regions of the register (and in that kind of ping-pong way between one extreme and the other) is certainly a risky choice, since you are basically killing any possibility of pulling a gesture in those registers when a contrast is needed. You didn't use the other possibilities for contrast either, that's another risky choice, and if this movement had been an isolated piece that would have ruined it.


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## Ian Moore

I agree. If I were to write this piece now, it would be to contrast the leaping around with areas of stability. Just like the coda and cadenza, a sudden long note or group of long notes. The first movement consists of many long notes. If I rewrote it, I would take passages from the first movement and intersperse them into the second movement. It would be better balanced. However, I do like the idea of a hidden canon running through a solo work.


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## aleazk

I think the movement is similar in character to the second movement of Webern's Piano Variations, and in this way, I think the idea holds itself pretty well up to 1:07, I would have ended the movement exactly there. Like in the Webern piece, you can add more variation in the other outer movements.


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## Ian Moore

Or split it up into chunks of one minute. The only problem with shortening the the last movement by so much is that the canon idea wouldn't have worked. But I take your point.


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## aleazk

Yes, that could work too, but the second section would need a revision then. While listening to it again, the main problem I found is that this second part ("cadenza"?, I can't read well the name since the video is a little blurred) starts more or less well, but as soon as it starts, the same high register gestures appear again and also with the same loud dynamics, i.e., all very similar to the first section, and this is exactly where it became a little tiring to hear, at least to me. A change in the dynamics is definitely needed I think. That would also change perhaps the sound of those high register notes, thus changing the character of the section completely. Then you could go back to the original settings in the final minute. As Mahlerian said, it's problematic even as a single movement.

Anyway, you wrote this a long time ago and you evidently understand the issues now, so it makes no sense to keep going around this. It's up to you to revise it. Keep in mind that people like Boulez do it all the time, often changing the piece completely, but I understand if you don't want to do it (I wouldn't do it possibly, but that's because I'm lazy for that kind of things and music is not my main activity  )


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## Ian Moore

He used the analogy of seeing a photograph of yourself from the past and wanting to change it. I don't think I'll rewrite history. For me, this is a interesting snapshot of who I was in the past. There are a lot of things I like about it. Sometimes it can sound rigorous and sometimes it can sound elegant. But ultimately it is defiant. I like these characteristics.


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## Guest

Ian Moore said:


> If people were worried about Adieu, then they are going to be amazed by the register leaping in the Flute Sonatine. The title is ironic. This is a full blooded and virtuoso composition. Do you think that flute players should be expected to work this hard for a sonatine? I would love to have feedback about the technical aspirations of this piece. E.g. Is it realistically extending the flute players range? Or is it just too difficult?


It doesn't strike me as being overly taxing. Compare it for example to these two examples (both by Brian Ferneyhough) : 
a) 



b) https://www.google.it/search?q=Fern...i+d'Invenzione&rls=org.mozilla:en-GB:official

Still, I enjoyed your work.


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## Ian Moore

My composition looks simple compared to those pieces of music by Brian Ferneyhough. At the time, I was aiming for a complex Boulez. As a composer, I was still finding my feet. I wouldn't have dreamt of taking on Ferneyhough's complexity. I am glad you enjoyed the work, though.


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## StevenOBrien

I actually like the character of this piece, but some of the leaps are so large and frequent that they give it a very disconnected feel and make the harmonic context of the leaps feel almost unintelligible at times (to me, at least). Was that intentional?


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## Ian Moore

Yes, it was. The best way of describing it is a artist that gets consumed by their art and is driven insane. A bit like the 'dance of death' in Stravinsky's "Rite of Spring"(obviously, I am not comparing myself to that great composer in any other way) which may have been at the back of my mind. However, the uncontrollable urge in this piece is rooted in the mind. An inability to manipulate five different 'themes' at the same time. It should always sound slightly out of control; like you can't quite grasp what's happening.


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## Ian Moore

StevenOBrien, I have just been onto your soundcloud page. You have a impressive number of viewers!!!

Flute Sonatine


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## StevenOBrien

Ian Moore said:


> Yes, it was. The best way of describing it is a artist that gets consumed by their art and is driven insane. A bit like the 'dance of death' in Stravinsky's "Rite of Spring"(obviously, I am not comparing myself to that great composer in any other way) which may have been at the back of my mind. However, the uncontrollable urge in this piece is rooted in the mind. An inability to manipulate five different 'themes' at the same time. It should always sound slightly out of control; like you can't quite grasp what's happening.


I don't really know what to think about it in that context. Maybe my more conservative ears aren't really accustomed properly, but it feels long past insane, rather than going insane, to me at least. In other words, it doesn't really feel like there's any hint of sanity to be lost at the beginning.



Ian Moore said:


> StevenOBrien, I have just been onto your soundcloud page. You have a impressive number of viewers!!!
> 
> Flute Sonatine


Heh, thanks! Yeah, my music has been getting around a bit in the last year or so.


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## Ian Moore

It might seem strange but calling this work insane is a big complement! Thanks very much.

You've attracted audiences in the tens of thousands. We'll done. Obviously, a lot of people like your music. Are there any other trade secrets that you wish to divulge?


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## StevenOBrien

Ian Moore said:


> You've attracted audiences in the tens of thousands. We'll done. Obviously, a lot of people like your music. Are there any other trade secrets that you wish to divulge?


I give all of my music away for free (with an option to buy it) and release it under a Creative Commons license. People who make videos/films/games look through my music and use suitable tracks in their projects, some of which do quite well. The Creative Commons license requires no payment for use, but requires attribution be given to me (ie, a link back to the SoundCloud page of the music). People who like the music end up clicking back to the SoundCloud page, and the cycle continues. This exposure allows me to advertise myself as a composer of bespoke music for films and games, which is how I make the bulk of my income.

I would note, however, that your music needs a certain popular appeal for this to work. When it comes to more "pure" classical music, you not only have a much smaller listener-base to appeal to, but you're in competition with some of the greatest, most original, and most inventive composers of all time, which is not an easy thing to live up to by any stretch of the imagination. You'll notice that the more classical-leaning pieces on my SoundCloud only have a fraction of the attention that the more universally appealing pieces do. The only thing I can recommend you do here is to be persistent and inventive.


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## Ian Moore

Absolutely fantastic advice and canny thinking. You are wise beyond you age. Thanks very much.


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