# Solo Flute



## Head_case

Can anyone recommend some solo flute works? 

I'm familiar with some Polish and Czech stuff - looking further afield, preferably something like the Sariaaho solo flute piece which someone's graced me with. What a beautiful instrument and sound!

I must've neglected my flute for over a decade, foolishly thinking that the only flute pieces came in a profiterole or pavlova like Mrs Eeyore's piano tinkering accompaniments from grade school classes. I'm not really interested in flute sonatas (with piano). Flute concertos are good though.

Picking it up again, I realise I can barely play it. I've lost the art of embouchure. Me and my big mouth 

Would love it if anyone could recommend some recordings or CDs.

Thanks.


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## rojo

The one solo flute piece that immediately springs to my mind is _Syrinx_ by Debussy. I like James Galway. But that might be a bit much, if you're just getting back into playing the flute again. Inspirational to listen to though. 

Edit- just remembered another good one with ties to _Syrinx_; _Density 21.5_ by Varèse.


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## Head_case

Hi there,

I've already had this one since I was a kid. All 2.22 minutes of it. I could never hold my breathe long enough to start off the Syrinx and gave up, hoping my lungs would expand later 

My parents bought me the William Bennett compilation CD of Debussy/Ravel/Poulenc/Sain-Saens' woodwind works at school. I was shocked to see it's still being sold after all this time! 










Lol. James Galway is probably the reason I gave up playing. He did an Eastern European composer's flute concert ... I can't remember anymore but it was just mind blowing at the time, seeing how his circular breathing technique worked.

Looking more at modern flute repertoire, rather than the classical/impressionist/very early century stuff. For instance - 21st century living composers like Slowinski's flute works, which I kind of like, but not sure I'd like enough to recommend:










has that kind of 'chamber' woodwind approach .. so there are many diverse kinds of chamber music on this one disc, rather than just being pure solo flute, or another pure form of chamber music, like string quartet. It gets worse with his other releases, which include Makowski's Fairy Tales, which include bassoon and oboe!


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## Head_case

Here's what I've got:

Frank Martin: Ballad for Flute and hammer 
Gunilla von Bahr plays Ingholm, Sommerfeldt etc - Tre Flojter and her solo stuff
Jindrich Feld - Concertante music for the flute, harpsichord and string quartet
Jethro Tull - No lullaby
Manuela Wiesler plays French stuff (Marux, Tomasi, Ibert etc)
Wladyslaw Slowinski's solo flute sonata
Krysztof Meyer's solo flute sonata
Sariaaho's solo flute piece

Looking for more in this vein ...


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## Huilunsoittaja

The only ones I know are Syrinx, Density 21.5 (both mentioned already), and then *Kokopeli *by Katherine Hoover, a contemporary piece.

I'll probably play some of the one mentioned above in college.

Head Case, you once played flute??? Awesome!


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## Head_case

> Head Case, you once played flute??? Awesome!


Haha. You wouldn't say that if you heard me now lol.

I was the only boy in the whole school who played flute and we'd have concerts in primary school which I'd have to perform at. The other boys constantly ridiculed me and said it was soooo gayyy. So it wasn't exactly something I was proud of. When I changed schools, I immediately dumped it.

Things we don't appreciate as kids huh?! 

I don't know the Kokopeli piece so I'll look out for it - thanks. Mostly it was Gavottes and Minuets from graded school pieces. I hated the practicing at lunchtimes - just missed out playing football at lunch breaks, so I guess I wasn't very disciplined then.

Some things don't change


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## Argus

This is right up your alley.


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## Head_case

Heyy - that's really intriguing 

Thanks for linking. Fascinating to hear the combo used in this way.

I was thinking more along the lines of the Soviet avant garde style of flute/harp/harpsichord works by people like Smirnov ... but these recordings are so few and far between and so hard to locate!


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## Huilunsoittaja

Head_case said:


> Haha. You wouldn't say that if you heard me now lol.
> 
> I was the only boy in the whole school who played flute and we'd have concerts in primary school which I'd have to perform at. The other boys constantly ridiculed me and said it was soooo gayyy. So it wasn't exactly something I was proud of. When I changed schools, I immediately dumped it.
> 
> Things we don't appreciate as kids huh?!
> 
> I don't know the Kokopeli piece so I'll look out for it - thanks. Mostly it was Gavottes and Minuets from graded school pieces. I hated the practicing at lunchtimes - just missed out playing football at lunch breaks, so I guess I wasn't very disciplined then.
> 
> Some things don't change


I know, Flute seems to be a effeminate instrument (only because it's soprano range), but honestly, males can be better flutists than girls, as I've seen. I can name like a dozen famous guy flutists right now, who play the instrument with a very masculine approach: James Galway, Emmanuel Pahud, William Bennett (the present time), and people from generations back: Kincaid, Baker, Rampal, Barrere, Moyse, and a bunch more. After all, 100 years back, girls couldn't be in orchestras, so everyone one was male.

Kokopeli is a wonderful piece, because it's in the style of Native American flute playing. Hardly an atonal piece actually, just modernized. Plus, no bar lines


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## Sorcerer88

if we're talking about harp-flute already, shaposhnikov's sonata should be mentioned:






i'm a pianist, but this is one of my favourite pieces, especially the second movement. unfortunately, the vibrato there in the youtube performance doesn't live up to the recording i have, that i can heartily recommend:

http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/arabesqueduo


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## haydnguy

I was going to recommend a CD by flautist Sharon Bezaly but it looks like they are no longer going to be selling her CD's on Amazon(U.S.). I'm sure you could get them from BIS but shipping may be too expensive.


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## elgar's ghost

Ibert wrote a Piece for solo flute in 1936 (approx. 4 mins long). To be honest, I can't think of any other works for solo flute I've actually heard apart from this and the aforementioned Density 21.5.


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## StlukesguildOhio

Late in his career Charles Koechlin composed a series of solo works for flute entitled _Les Chants de Nectaire_. These works are absolutely fascinating:

http://www.basta.nl/productDetails.aspx?IDProduct=170&ArtistName=Leendert+de+Jonge











You might also wish to check out the Japanese Shakuhachi flute music:





































Building upon this Japanese tradition, as well as the music of his beloved Impressionists... especially Debussy, Toru Takemitsu composed some lovely works for solo flute, several of which are included on this disc:


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## Argus

Try this Scelsi album:










Here's the solo flute piece Pwyll:






And the flute and clarinet duo Ko-Lho:






For solo Shakuhachi, Sabu Orimu is a good listen:


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## HarpsichordConcerto

Head_case said:


> Can anyone recommend some solo flute works?
> 
> I'm familiar with some Polish and Czech stuff - looking further afield, preferably something like the Sariaaho solo flute piece which someone's graced me with. What a beautiful instrument and sound!
> 
> I must've neglected my flute for over a decade, foolishly thinking that the only flute pieces came in a profiterole or pavlova like Mrs Eeyore's piano tinkering accompaniments from grade school classes. I'm not really interested in flute sonatas (with piano). Flute concertos are good though.
> 
> Picking it up again, I realise I can barely play it. I've lost the art of embouchure. Me and my big mouth
> 
> Would love it if anyone could recommend some recordings or CDs.
> 
> Thanks.


A few to get you started in early music. (You didn't mention which period, so I guess you don't mind any). These are often recorded.

J. S. Bach, _Partita in A minor for solo flute_, BWV1013

C. P. E. Bach, _Sonata in A minor for solo flute_, W132

G. P. Telemann, _12 Fantasias for solo flute_, TWV40:2-13

Enjoy.


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## Head_case

Thanks for the Koechlin, Ibert and Scelsi recommendations guys! These are just fantastic to dig into!

I'm well into expanding my repertoire now! 

HC - I have all the scores for those pieces! I love the 'Corrente' movement most - this is the loveliest part I enjoy playing. 

You know I don't listen to much baroque nor early classical era music, but when it comes to playing the flute, these were the pieces i grew up with. Telemann was so prolific. Along with Quantz, he is one of my favourite writers for the flute.


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## Taneyev

If you want to listen some technically nearly imposible solo flute (and a real rarity), look for Bonita Boyd's recording of a transcription of complete Paganini's 24.


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## LordBlackudder




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## Head_case

Errr...Blackudder....lol. 

I think I'll listen to myself play. 

Thankfully no one else has to. 

Greg Patillo is great for 5 year olds. The amount of spit he generates is enough to make any flutist go OCD!


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## GoneBaroque

You might look into the compositions of the English composer and flautist David Heath who has written several pieces for solo flute.

Here is a link to his website.

http://www.daveheath.co.uk/

He is well represented on YouTube.


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## clavichorder

Would it spoil this thread to recommend a pieces that aren't solo, but are in fact _duets_? I want to promote this work! WF Bach was a brilliant composer and he had a way with the flute.


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## Head_case

Haha. I should buy a 4 track recorder, so that I can record myself. And then record the second flute part too and have flute duets played by me. 

Or maybe record myself 4 times, and pretend I'm a flute quartet 

Thanks for the Dave Heath link - I'll check it out in more detail when I'm not on a broadband restriction!

Yes - Bach's flute works are superb - particularly his minor key scores. I love Quantz and Telemann too. It's easy to get flute solo parts, by playing them myself. The sound of a live flute is superb compared to recorded sound. It makes up for my terrible playing lol


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## jalex

Berio's first sequenza: 




I know you said no pianos but I'ma put this here anyway for you take or leave: 




I saw the Carter and Dalbavie flute concertos at the Proms this year both of which are worth looking at. There's a preview of the Carter here: 



 (but I don't think it's been recorded yet), and some excerpts of the Dalbavie concerto along with two other contemporary concertos in the background to this video: 



. I think you'll have to buy the CD if you want to hear any of those three but it's dead cheap on Amazon: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Dalbavie-Ja...8K1O/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1315342868&sr=8-1.

And at the very fringes of modernity if you enjoy this sort of thing: 




I have to say, I think Varese takes the prize for the best Modern solo flute work, probably since the Baroque period thinking about it.


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## jalex

Ooh, how about Ian Clarke's Zoomtube: 



His Great Train Race is also kinda fun but all the 'serious' pieces sound pretty trite to me.


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## Head_case

*Flute*



jalex said:


> Berio's first sequenza:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I know you said no pianos but I'ma put this here anyway for you take or leave:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I saw the Carter and Dalbavie flute concertos at the Proms this year both of which are worth looking at. There's a preview of the Carter here:
> 
> 
> 
> (but I don't think it's been recorded yet), and some excerpts of the Dalbavie concerto along with two other contemporary concertos in the background to this video:
> 
> 
> 
> . I think you'll have to buy the CD if you want to hear any of those three but it's dead cheap on Amazon: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Dalbavie-Ja...8K1O/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1315342868&sr=8-1.
> 
> And at the very fringes of modernity if you enjoy this sort of thing:


Wow Jalex - thanks for going to the effort to dig out all those recommendations!

I'm afraid...I'm not as avant-garde as I would like to be!

All of those pieces completely freaked me out. I really wanted to like them, and I was amazed that the Carter piece, was the one I found most tolerable. As much as I hear Pahud wax lyrical about the beauty of the intense and fragile music, it just sounds irritating to me - like I'm waiting for them to play the flute like it should - with beautiful elegance, rather than spittling, crackling, cello bridge-like effects, and flute like pizzicati. I haven't understood the modern way in which the flute is used, or at least, I don't intuitively jump and and down thinking 'Oh yes! I love this!'. But I would like to.....

I like Kohler's 25 Romantic pieces for flute!  That's where I'm at, currently. I can play these, along with Poulenc's Sonata, or baroque music. The modern stuff ... I look at the scores, and it's just like trying to figure out where the other half of the music score is! But the piece by Berio - it sounds like the flutist is trying to play like me, rather than me trying to play like I should!

I'm not sure why I find the tonality quite ugly in those modern pieces. Pahud does a pretentious and rather embarrassing spittle technique + shouting piece by the Japanese composer Takemitsu..... oddly, when I hear Schafer's string quartets, using voice, where the players shout and play simultaneously, the effect is more disarming, yet listenable (just about!) compared to flutists who shout and talk during screechy squidgy wispy asthmatic flute playing.

The closest I've got to appreciating modern flute music is Sariaaho's 'Coleurs du Vent' or something; Hoover's Kokopeli; and Salonen's YTA1. I think I'm old skool when it comes to flute music


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## jalex

Oh righty. Somehow I had it in my head that you liked avant-garde / somtemporary music. Looking back a bit further and at more conservative modern stuff I can think of:

Reinecke: Flute Concerto
Rouse: Flute Concerto
Briccaldi: Concerto for flute and orchestra (probably a bit too classical though)
Honegger: Danse de la chevre for solo flute
Bozza: Image for Solo Flute
Benjamin: Flight for Solo Flute (this might be a bit too avant-garde but it's kinda similar to the Varese so maybe you'll like it)
Rodrigo: Concierto Pastorale
Someone mentioned Ibert's Piece for solo flute on the other page, he also wrote a concerto.

All of these are on Youtube performed with varying degrees of skill, I have no idea which are / are not professionally recorded though.

Also I want to once again break the 'no piano' rule to recommend this rather lovely piece which no-one seems to have heard of:


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## jdavid

youtube ian clark, and emmanuel pahud,

Here's an ian clark piece for you:








Head_case said:


> Can anyone recommend some solo flute works?
> 
> I'm familiar with some Polish and Czech stuff - looking further afield, preferably something like the Sariaaho solo flute piece which someone's graced me with. What a beautiful instrument and sound!
> 
> I must've neglected my flute for over a decade, foolishly thinking that the only flute pieces came in a profiterole or pavlova like Mrs Eeyore's piano tinkering accompaniments from grade school classes. I'm not really interested in flute sonatas (with piano). Flute concertos are good though.
> 
> Picking it up again, I realise I can barely play it. I've lost the art of embouchure. Me and my big mouth
> 
> Would love it if anyone could recommend some recordings or CDs.
> 
> Thanks.


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## Head_case

Jalex.......Thats really beautiful.

The piano part is inconsequential..i can visualise the music as
a solo very well.

Do you know the published edition of this music? It's very attractive.


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## Head_case

David....

I'm a philistine! I just don't get this kind of playing. It makes me want to gargle mouthrinse :-( 

I probably need to learn and acquire from others what they like about music like this. It isn't.intuitive to me, and the longer I listen, the more I ummm....start to think maybe the piano is a nice instrument.

May I ask others what they think of this? 

Don't get me wrong...i love modern repertoire for solo cello or string quartet, however when artists or composers try to 'extend the sonic aesthetics of the flute beyond preconceived boundaries' by making the flute fart frequently.....it loses me....

Sorry... I sound so oldskool!


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## jalex

Head_case said:


> Jalex.......Thats really beautiful.
> 
> The piano part is inconsequential..i can visualise the music as
> a solo very well.
> 
> Do you know the published edition of this music? It's very attractive.


Google search reveals http://www.musicroom.com/se/ID_No/0256312/details.html. I don't own a copy.

I came across it by accident in one of Trevor Wye's practice books where the section beginning at 3:30ish was used as a trill exercise and it caught my interest. I have never ever heard it referred to anywhere else, my flute teacher hadn't heard of it, and that's the only video of it on Youtube so I assume it isn't well known at all.


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## Head_case

jalex said:


> Oh righty. Somehow I had it in my head that you liked avant-garde / somtemporary music. Looking back a bit further and at more conservative modern stuff I can think of:
> 
> Reinecke: Flute Concerto
> Rouse: Flute Concerto
> Briccaldi: Concerto for flute and orchestra (probably a bit too classical though)
> Honegger: Danse de la chevre for solo flute
> Bozza: Image for Solo Flute
> Benjamin: Flight for Solo Flute (this might be a bit too avant-garde but it's kinda similar to the Varese so maybe you'll like it)
> Rodrigo: Concierto Pastorale
> Someone mentioned Ibert's Piece for solo flute on the other page, he also wrote a concerto.


I've got the Honneger piece and Ibert's Aria. The aria is only one page long and cost me half a CD Grrrrrr!

The Poulenc sonata with the mischievously malenico movement is good fun, as are Kuhlau's caprices. I don't have the skill to play the Taktakishvili sonata, let
alone spell it confidently.

In an insane shopping spree moment, I bought the Paganini caprices. I need to down some vodka so that all those doublets and triplets look like crotchets. This is going to be a mission to play, even in slow motion. Watch this space...... It will look exactly like a space 10 years from now lol


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## jalex

Head_case said:


> David....
> 
> I'm a philistine! I just don't get this kind of playing. It makes me want to gargle mouthrinse :-(
> 
> I probably need to learn and acquire from others what they like about music like this. It isn't.intuitive to me, and the longer I listen, the more I ummm....start to think maybe the piano is a nice instrument.
> 
> May I ask others what they think of this?
> 
> Don't get me wrong...i love modern repertoire for solo cello or string quartet, however when artists or composers try to 'extend the sonic aesthetics of the flute beyond preconceived boundaries' by making the flute fart frequently.....it loses me....
> 
> Sorry... I sound so oldskool!


I like some of it when it is well done such as Density 21.5 or the Carter concerto I mentioned. When it sounds like the composer is trying to do little more than write a compendium of extended techniques in to a piece with little regard for the music (like that Ferneyhough) then I too want to 'gargle mouthrinse'.

As I do when I hear most Ian Clarke, though for entirely different reasons


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## Head_case

jalex said:


> Google search reveals http://www.musicroom.com/se/ID_No/0256312/details.html. I don't own a copy.
> 
> I came across it by accident in one of Trevor Wye's practice books where the section beginning at 3:30ish was used as a trill exercise and it caught my interest. I have never ever heard it referred to anywhere else, my flute teacher hadn't heard of it, and that's the only video of it on Youtube so I assume it isn't well known at all.


No wonder it sounds so familiar! Page 83 after the section on diminished triads. I've just checked my copy.

what Grade are you doing now? You seem to have a fantastic breadth of repertoire.  I'm Grade VIII going on Grade I after 20 years of no play. I don't remember ever playing enthusing repertoire. Quantz or Bach Partitas were the highlights, before the modern syllabus saw the like of Alan Bullard type modern pieces come in.


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## jalex

Head_case said:


> what Grade are you doing now? You seem to have a fantastic breadth of repertoire. I'm Grade VIII going on Grade I after 20 years of no play. I don't remember ever playing enthusing repertoire. Quantz or Bach Partitas were the highlights, before the modern syllabus saw the like of Alan Bullard type modern pieces come in.


I got my Grade 8 about 6 months ago, now working for a diploma. A lot of the stuff I posted I wouldn't have a hope of playing, but I familiarised myself with a lot of the diploma material including higher level stuff. Mostly for practical reasons; perhaps surprisingly the flute repertoire doesn't interest me much in listening terms. I could live without most of it excepting the Bach sonatas and Partita, Syrinx, Density 21.5 and the two Mozart concertos. There are some other pieces I find to be of some interest (CPE Bach sonata for solo flute, Enescu's Cantabile et Presto) but in general the flute doesn't seem to have been a vehicle for composers' more interesting works.


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## Head_case

jalex said:


> I got my Grade 8 about 6 months ago, now working for a diploma. A lot of the stuff I posted I wouldn't have a hope of playing, but I familiarised myself with a lot of the diploma material including higher level stuff. Mostly for practical reasons; perhaps surprisingly the flute repertoire doesn't interest me much in listening terms. I could live without most of it excepting the Bach sonatas and Partita, Syrinx, Density 21.5 and the two Mozart concertos. There are some other pieces I find to be of some interest (CPE Bach sonata for solo flute, Enescu's Cantabile et Presto) but in general the flute doesn't seem to have been a vehicle for composers' more interesting works.


Hey congratulations...it's like a milestone in flute playing! Glad you're doing a diploma with yours. I never cared for public performances and went for a career using my eyes rather than ears (mouth gets used too!)

Is the D minor one of the Mozart ones you're referring to? Along with the Danzi, that was the kind of repertoire we were immersed in. I'd much rather play Bowen, Sariaaho, McCabe, Hoover and that kind of baroque now. If I was to take up flute lessons again, I'd to too embarrassed to let in that I could play it before. The difference of a decade or so of kissing and maturity really messes up embouchure control lol.

I like the Bach sonatas too. A minor is my favourite, without all that double tonguing of course. Not up to speed like the Spanish armada...


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## fartwriggler

The string quartet has long been my fave Classical genre-it reaches the parts larger ensembles cannot reach-After much study, I think I'm finally starting to get these little gems:


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