# Solo Flute



## Vasks (Dec 9, 2013)

Well, this Forum has been very quiet of late with nothing to really hear. So here's a truly old work of mine. It was written 40 years ago and I doubt if anything else I would ever post here will be that old (_well...maybe with one possible exception_). The recording you're hearing was made about 20 years ago. You'll notice I did utilize some contemporary techniques, something nowadays I usually don't do.

View attachment Solo Flute piece.mp3


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## EdwardBast (Nov 25, 2013)

Writing an effective work for a solo wind instrument seems like a formidable challenge to me, and one I think you have met well. It is very tight motivically and with a clear structure of balanced phrases. The motives and phrases also sometimes seem to transform incrementally with notes subtracted or added in successive iterations(?) Anyway, the contemporary techniques were tastefully used and thematic, like the bends at the end of the opening phrases. Not sure about the end — there was great continuity and a strong feeling of resolution at around 4:45. The part after seems to lose momentum, but I think I might be missing some elements of a recapitulatory function here.


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## Vasks (Dec 9, 2013)

I'll check out that spot from 4:45 onward Edward, and it wouldn't surprise me in studying it if indeed the remainder is not as strong as the earlier portion, because it was composed after about a 3-4 year drought of no composing. 

I had graduated from my Master's program (lots of composing during that time period  ) but then I had to go out into the real world and work for those 3-4 years to pay off student loans and build up savings before I found my first college teaching gig. Once that was achieved, I met a fine university flute professor who was willing to play something of mine if I wrote it, and that's how the piece came to be.


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