Australian Music Centre | Breaking sound barriers

Work Overview

I adopted the title in honour of the Japanese composers who will join these exchange concerts, and in honour of the long tradition of the Japanese flute. The work could be played by any number of western flutes, but it seems to me particularly suited to the sonorities of the low flutes. Henso-Kyoku #1 is my first set of Variations for flute, reflecting both musical changes and interpolations to the theme, and changes and interpolations in my own life. Are we each living in a set of our own Variations?

For the first performance, Peter Sheridan played different movements on different flutes, mixing Bass, Alto, and Contrabass flutes. For the improvised movement, he used the Sub-Contrabass flute, quite a rarity. Any combinations of flutes are possible. It's also fine to perform one or several movements, rather than all variations, if desired.

Work Details

Year: 2016

Instrumentation: Alto or bass flute, but could be performed by any number of flutes, including standard concert, and contrabass flute. At the premiere performance, different movements were played on different types of flutes.

Duration: 9 min.

Difficulty: Medium — Easy if played slowly, medium difficulty at marked tempo

Commission note: Composed for the Melbourne Composers League Subterranean Sonorities Concert

First performance: by Peter Sheridan — 26 Nov 16. Melbourne Composers League, Trinity Uniting Church, Brighton