Firebird rehearsal with Dudamel

 Dear Flutelovers,

What a thrill ride on a Sunday afternoon. This is my absolutely favourite piece of music being played by the LA Phil an their entirely exciting/thrilled conductor. Wowza. Enjoy!

Dudamel rehearsing The Firebird with LA Phil (video)

Best, Jen

Playalong Midsummer Duet

 Dear Flutelovers,

 Over on the FLUTElist Jon Raybould has announced an opportunity to play a duet of Mendelssohn's Midsummer Night's Dream with a famous historical flutist from France! I say go for it! So fun. Here's what Jon says about his playalong creation:

 Jon wrote: "I've made a YouTube video of the "Scherzo" from Mendelssohn's "A Midsummer Night's Dream", arranged for flute duet. It's from "Méthode de flûte" by Joseph-Henri Altès, and essentially, it's the same as the duet featured at the end of "Album of Flute Duets" (Louis Moyse).

However, on this video you hear a recording of just the FLUTE 2 part, played by the late Fernand Caratgé (1902–1991), a prominent French flutist of the 20th century.

The idea is that you follow the score appearing on the YouTube screen and play along with the Flute 1 part!! All for free!

This is a collaboration between myself and Chris Steward, collector of, and expert on,classic flute recordings. 

I've been working on it for a few months. Here's what happened:

1. Chris posted on the Flute List about the "Méthode de flûte" by Joseph-Henri Altès. He was editing some pages of Part 3, and gave the link to it on IMSLP.

2. I noticed that in this Method, there was the Midsummer Night's Dream Scherzo flute duet that appeared to be the same as the one in the Louis Moyse Duet book. In my teaching days, I played it zillions of times with my advanced students.

3. Chris then emailed me, out of interest, an old recording that Fernand Caratgé had made, to illustrate the Altès Methode. (Caratgé had spent time revising and editing the Altès Methode for publication...)...

4. So an idea came to me - to use my video editing skills and produce this play-along video for advanced players to play along to. I've made it, so the lines of the music appear magically on the screen (no need for page turns!) .. Plus, I've added yellow blocks on the screen which flash in time with the beat, to help players keep in time. (Best viewed on a large screen via a desktop computer).

I've added some background information at the end of the video, including information about Chris Steward's "Early Flute Recordings" pages on the Robert Bigio site.

If you have the duet in printed form, of course you can use that if you can't play along to the YouTube screen.

And here's a tip - for practising, you can slow down the YouTube playback easily. Below the video, click on the "cog" icon. From there you can choose a speed from x 0.25, through to normal speed.. YouTube does a pretty good job of reducing the playback speed whilst maintaining the correct pitch.

Here's the whole video: (video)

 Direct link to the start of the play-along section.

Here's the direct link to the "background info." section toward the end of the video. 

I included an excerpt of a performance of the orchestral version of the Scherzo, played by the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra at the end. It is stunning. For the complete performance, here's the video link (Bravo to the flute section).

Best wishes, Jon Raybould"

Jacob Collier's Creativity

 Dear Flutelovers,

I may be late to the party but I'm thrilled to discover Jacob Collier's harmonizations and how he thinks them up!

No, this isn't strictly flute-related, but it's musically fascinating. This young person plays guitar, piano and sings, and his parents are both classical musicians. Enjoy this; it's like meeting J.S. Bach and watching how he works!!

Moon River by Jacob Collier (video)

Jacob Collier on how he wrote moon river (this is set to start a few minutes in): (video)

Interview about his education and upbringing: (video)

Want to see more? To see his oldest videos (12 years ago when he's a young teen) just click on the word Oldest here: (All videos)

Best, Jen

Lorna McGhee - Tone Colours & Vibrato

 Dear Flutelovers,

I just love the way that Lorna McGhee teaches. Enjoy these two videos!

Lorna McGhee 

Speaking Through the Flute (video)

Vibrato (this film starts at Lorna McGhee's segment) (video) 

Enjoy and feel free to comment!

Best, Jen

FUN with the Slovenian Flute Orchestra

 Oh holy cow batman! This is just SO much fun and well worth seeing! Here's the energy for the final piece in the concert (video), and now you can go back and watch the whole thing one piece at a time!!

Matej Zupan's Slovenian Flute Orchestra

Plays Tico Tico. More videos below.

Text from the programme:

The establishment of the Slovenian Flute Orchestra was a kind of logical consequence, a response to the challenges of the time during the pandemic, when we also questioned the meaning of our professional activities. The orchestra is composed of flutists, all academically trained musicians, united by a fundamental love for music and performance, forming a deeply connected community. In the flute orchestra, music is not only played, but it is lived and breathed together with it. Every note, every heartbeat of the music carries immense emotional richness, created by the flutists, many of whom are former classmates and long-time colleagues. Through rehearsals and concert preparations, they bond and connect, creating friendships and reviving memories of their shared musical journeys. The orchestra consists of piccolo flutes, concert flutes, alto flutes, bass flutes, with additional color provided by double bass, piano, and percussion. The sound of the orchestra, in the right balance, without vibrato and with a beautifully placed chord, resembles the lovely sound of an organ, which is certainly something unique. The repertoire consists of original compositions for this ensemble and arrangements of pieces from choral and orchestral literature. 

At this concert, among other pieces, we premiered a new piece of which we are especially proud, entitled Circus Flautasticus, which was composed by our orchestra member, flutist Agata Gojkošek. You are welcome to listen also our other performances which are listed below.

 The orchestra begins its historical journey with two concerts - in Murska Sobota and in the new premises of the Academy of Music at the University of Ljubljana, in the beautiful Kazina Palace, where most of the orchestra members also graduated, making it fitting for them to visit and experience the new spaces and thus “return home” in spirit.  See: Event photos

In the description below each of the videos on youtube there is information about where to order the sheet music.

Matej  Zupan

SLOVENIAN COMPOSERS:

Tine Bec (*1993) GLORIA from Missa Pro Iuventate 

Blaž Pucihar (1977) In Gamba!

Tilen Slakan (1993) Insomnia 

Andrej Makor (1987) O Lux Beata Trinitas 

Marjan Grdadolnik (1967) Laudate Dominum

INTERNATIONAL COMPOSERS:

Carly Simon (1943) (arr. Craig Hella Johnson) Let the River Run

Josu Elberdin (1976) Duerme, Pequeno Mar (Sleep, My Little Sea) 

George Frideric Handel (1685-1759) The Arrival of the Queen of Sheba from Oratorio Solomon 

Sergej Rachmaninov (1873-1943), (arr. Joreon Bron) Scherzo

Christophe Beck (1972) / Frode Fjellheim (*1959)  Vuelie from Frozen 

Eliza Gilkyson (1950) (arr. Craig Hella Johnson)  Requiem

Herman Beeftink (1953) Aye, Aye, Rascal! 

Leonard Bernstein (1918-1990) Waltz from Divertimento 

Zequinha de Abreu (1880-1935) TICO TICO NO FUBÁ (arr. Albert Arantes) 

* = year of birth given

__________________

Lots of very enjoyable listening, great music for your own ensemble to order (each youtube has a link to contact for ordering), and a terrific event all around for the flute world! Yay Slovenian Flute Orchestra! What incredible imagination and togetherness. Love it!

Best, Jen

Lovely recital by NACO flutists

 Dear Flutelovers,

There is a lovely flute recital online at the moment, featuring the two flutists of the National Arts Centre Orchestra featuring one of my favourite all time flutists, Joanna G'froerer, and the newly appointed second flutist (joining Joanna in the Doppler) Stephanie Morren.

Stephanie is also featured playing the Farrenc Trio in an additional filmed performance. Here are the links. Enjoy!!

Joanna G’froerer in recital (watch now online.)

Programmes:

BONIS Suite en trio for flute, violin, and piano, Op. 59 MESSIAEN Le Merle noir for flute and piano VALERIE COLEMAN Danza de la Mariposa for solo flute DOPPLER Concert-Paraphrase on Schubert's Die Verschworenen for two flutes and piano, Op. 18 ELIZABETH BROWN Liguria for flute, clarinet, violin, cello and piano BOHUSLAV MARTINŮ Trio for flute, cello, and piano _________________

Nac Orchestra's Second flutist Stephanie Morren plays Farrenc (watch now).

This second concert features the chamber music debut of Stephanie Morren, the NAC Orchestra’s new Second Flute, who began her first season in September 2020. Louise Farrenc Flute Trio, Op. 45 (22’)

Stephanie Morin, flute / Rachel Mercer, cello / Frédéric Lacroix, piano __________________

Best, Jen

Envy & what to do with it

Dear Flutelovers,

 I really enjoyed this podcast about how to deal with Envy, the ever recurring human phenomena. Super listening. Here's the link and the blurb to go with it.

Best, Jen

Listen to the Episode. Envy with psychotherapist Ryan Bennett-Clarke

Season 7, Ep. 5 Wednesday, March 13, 2024 

Annalisa (podcast host) writes: What is envy? How does it differ from jealously? Where does it come from and how does it manifest? If you've ever left a person feeling like little bits of you have been taken away, well envy may be the answer. We talk about how envy feels, why people get jealous or envious, how it's on the rise with social media; and we also talk about some nifty ways to 'interrupt' envy. How to answer back to those barbs. I found this one of the most thought-provoking episodes I've ever done and I have to admit I looked at certain people in a different way. Dare I say this is life-changing? I think it might be.

From the podcast called: Conversations with Annalisa Barbieri