Modern Flute Concertos

Could someone please reccommend to me a modern flute concerto? Ideally nothing atonal as I'm not overly fond of the style. I've played most of Vivaldi's and one of Mozart's, and would really like to try something more modern :)

Thanks,

Ferret

Chaminade Concertino

Penderecki

Francaix

Jolivet

Messaien quadruple concerto

Ibert

Denisov

Piston

Boughton

you're welcome :)

The Chaminade is pretty, but overplayed.

How about the Corigliano? (Pied Piper Fantasy)

I would have suggested the John Williams flute concerto, but you said "not atonal".

Thanks for the replies :)

I have to admit Oboeducky I haven't heard of any of those except Messaien, so i'll check that out, along with Chaminade (pretty sounds good flint, I've never heard of it so I don't suppose it being over played will bother me too much :P). The Pied Piper Fantasy sounds like fun too :D

I'm ashamed to admit I wasn't aware John Williams did any music other than film scores (which I love) so I may check out his concerto (who knows I may develop a taste for a bit of atonal!)

I know this is a bit off topic but have any of you heard Gluck's flute concerto? It was only discovered in the last 50 years or so, and I've been playing it for a performance with a piano reduction accompaniment but I was wondering if anyone of you know of a recording of the piece with an orchestra, becuase I've had quite a lot of trouble trying to find one (and have been unsucessful )

Thanks very much again :)

Ferret,

The Chaminade is pretty, but overplayed.

As are most pieces played by high-schoolers. :)

As are most pieces played by high-schoolers. :)

Try Kalevi Aho - vibrant music writing and highly recommended. Liebermann is a very boring composer IMHO but you fight find him a better fit than Aho. You might like John McCabe's or Christopher Rouse's concertos.

Umm, I've done the Faure Fantasie... technically it's not a concerto, but it was written for the french school of flute playing designed to showcase the ability of the player. Other pieces along those lines that I've played are the Nocturne e Allegro Scherzando by Gaubert (actually, it might be dedicated to Gaubert...), the Hindemith (which I'm not really a fan of, but oh well) Sonate, Copland's Duo for Flute and Piano, and Poulenc's sonata for flute and piano.

I do believe that the Gluck flute concerto was recorded by Naxos... hope that's some amount of help.

With regards to earlier flute concertos, I can highly recommend Quantz (400+ concertos to his name), along with the rest of the German school under Frederick the Great. The Chaminade is a very pretty piece; many overplayed pieces have to have some merits. A little bit later we have all of Kuhlau's flute grand solos and duets and quartets.

As a high schooler, I can say that I've been off the beaten path, but only with regards to Baroque and Classical flute stuff, so what I've played that's French and more modern is relatively run-of-the-mill, although I did hear one by Mendelssohn and I'd love to get my hands on it. I've also played a Mercadante two years ago and the Reinecke.

Transcription-wise, I'd suggest the Kachaturian (from the violin concerto), and Rodrigo's Fantasia. Kachaturian (and I'm not sure that it's the correct spelling) I only know from his piano pieces, but I liked those so the flute transcription of the violin concerto can't be that bad-sounding, and I've heard Galways play the Fantasia para... I"m not going to try to spell the rest... but it's sounds cool.

Hope that was helpful

The Carl Nielsen flute concerto is very good, not too demanding. It's playable.

The Jolivet is for flute and strings, and beautiful, but very difficult if you believe Manuela Wiesler's speeds... the first three parts are manageable, but the finale is a nightmare.

The Liebermann is fun, bit samey samey Liebermann though.

The Ibert is overplayed by people who don't have the technique to play it.

The Chaminade is not modern, and it's just cringe-inducingly sickly.

The Ned Rorem I haven't played like the above, but it sounds like a good piece to play.

The Kalevi Aho is astounding, but Sharon Bezaly is the only person who has performed it I think. You can't get the sheet music, It was written for her in 2002 I think?

I do believe that the Gluck flute concerto was recorded by Naxos... hope that's some amount of help.

With regards to earlier flute concertos, I can highly recommend Quantz (400+ concertos to his name), along with the rest of the German school under Frederick the Great. The Chaminade is a very pretty piece; many overplayed pieces have to have some merits. A little bit later we have all of Kuhlau's flute grand solos and duets and quartets.

As a high schooler, I can say that I've been off the beaten path, but only with regards to Baroque and Classical flute stuff, so what I've played that's French and more modern is relatively run-of-the-mill, although I did hear one by Mendelssohn and I'd love to get my hands on it. I've also played a Mercadante two years ago and the Reinecke.

Transcription-wise, I'd suggest the Kachaturian (from the violin concerto), and Rodrigo's Fantasia. Kachaturian (and I'm not sure that it's the correct spelling) I only know from his piano pieces, but I liked those so the flute transcription of the violin concerto can't be that bad-sounding, and I've heard Galways play the Fantasia para un gentilhombre

Hope that was helpful

You DO realize that almost none of what you're suggesting (bolded and underlined above) fits the OP's request for "modern" flute concertos, right?

I don't find the Khatchaturian a particularly successful transcription. It's VERY much a work for violin, utilizing the violin's range in very characteristic ways, which, when translated to flute just don't come across as well. For example, the opening motif is far too "light" played on the flute while on the violin it has bite and strength.

Yeah, QC, I do realize that none of those are modern (although compared to chant, I could make a good argument)... Most of those were just to hear myself talk and, he did say he liked the Mozart, so I kinda named a few (ok, a hell of a lot of things) that are from that era... I ramble to a bunch of things... sorry...

Some of those things were modern though!

And you've never heard me play the opening of the Katchaturian...

I second the idea for the Corigliano Pied Piper fantasy, it is great. I also love the Kalevi Aho one.

Another one that I think is fantastic, is The World of Montuagretta by Christian Lindberg. You can find it on a CD with the Kalevi Aho one, played by Sharon Bezaly.

EDIT: Sorry, I didn't read carefully enough and didn't realize that you wanted one to play. Im not sure if you can get sheet music for the Lindberg one...

The Chaminade is not modern, and it's just cringe-inducingly sickly.

Just heard it for the first time... sounds totally fine. Nothing extraordinary, but a pleasant listen. What's wrong with it?

The problem with the Chaminade is that every flutist who even attempts to continue lessons into the college years (ok, so there are some exceptions) will either have met Chaminade's Concertino by the end of their high school years or by the early college years. Most flute teachers are as sick as heck of it... why they keep assigning it is beyond my means of comprehension- as a room monitor for Solo/Ensemble, I can tell you that in group one, at least half of the flutists who came in played the Chaminade... and none of them recieved a good score on it.

Now, when played well, it is a pleasant piece to listen to, and it's a staple in the flute repertoire, so it appears all the time in contests. One of my friends who's majoring in music learned the piece her sophomore year for solo/ensemble, and thereafter used it for the Keller Concerto competition her Junior year, and then used it as her college audition piece... So, in the end, these days it's a piece that is used to judge the baseline ability of the flutist rather than being used as a piece of music... hence why flutists hate it.

ROUSE

ROREM

great flute concerti

The problem with the Chaminade is that every flutist who even attempts to continue lessons into the college years (ok, so there are some exceptions) will either have met Chaminade's Concertino by the end of their high school years or by the early college years. Most flute teachers are as sick as heck of it... why they keep assigning it is beyond my means of comprehension- as a room monitor for Solo/Ensemble, I can tell you that in group one, at least half of the flutists who came in played the Chaminade... and none of them recieved a good score on it.

Now, when played well, it is a pleasant piece to listen to, and it's a staple in the flute repertoire, so it appears all the time in contests. One of my friends who's majoring in music learned the piece her sophomore year for solo/ensemble, and thereafter used it for the Keller Concerto competition her Junior year, and then used it as her college audition piece... So, in the end, these days it's a piece that is used to judge the baseline ability of the flutist rather than being used as a piece of music... hence why flutists hate it.

Reminds me of Vivaldi's Violin Concerto in A minor when it comes to high school violin n00bs. I played it at 8 and back then couldn't care less about how it sounded like, but nowadays whenever I walk by the corridor at the music academy I go to, there's always a crappy violin student studying that thing. Everyone does it. It's sickening, sickening, sickening.

Not really modern, but the Griffes Poem for flute and orchestra should be heard more often!

You're probably not so fond of atonal music, because you aren't very familiar with it. So I suggest you play an atonal flute concerto, just to become more familiar with and learn to appreciate the atonal idiom.

There's a wonderful flute concerto by Korean composer Isang Yun. Although his music is firmly rooted in modernism, it is often highly expressive, lyrical and melodious.

Russian-born composer Sofia Gubaidulina wrote an incredible flute concerto called 'Music for flute, strings and percussion'. A powerful, dramatic and evocative piece with nice microtonal effects (one half of the strings are tuned a quarter-tone lower than the other half).

And then there's a brand new flute concerto by America's foremost composer Elliott Carter, a piece which has only been premiered a week ago in Israel (Elliott Carter - Flute Concerto). Naturally, I haven't heard the piece yet, but based on Carter's recent output I'm sure it's a great piece.

You mean the guy hasn't gone senile yet? :O :P

Already mentioned, but only in passing; the Griffes Poem is a gorgeous piece, and though it isn't cutting edge it's still got a very modern sound, and should be looked at if only for the opening melodic line (which is amazing - the phrase never actually ends until the end of the piece). It's got a lot of contrasting sections, so definitely something to look into if you want to show off - it has slow, moving sections, quick, furious sections, a jig in the middle, and a cadenza that has possibly one of the most irritating collection of notes I've ever come across, a real beast to play quickly.

Kennan's Night Soliloquy does have an arrangement for flute, orchestra, and piano, and while it's not precisely tonal (the entire piece is extremely unpredictable), it's still got an amazing cohesiveness, and it's tonal enough to sound good to someone who doesn't like atonal music. If you can play really delicately, this piece would be great.

Hanson's Serenade for Flute, Harp, and Orchestra, while what, 60 years old, is also one of those pieces that's definitely not classical, but also isn't scarily modern. It's very tonal, almost too tonal, but it's also very free. I wouldn't consider this extraordinarily difficult, but to sound good on it you're going to have to have a firm grasp of musicality or sound like mush. Worth looking into because it's so beautiful, even if you're not going to play it.

One more - Concerto by Otar Gordeli is probably more what I would consider 'modern classical', if that even makes sense. It's definitely not Mozart, but at the same time I think it sounds like something Mozart might write if he was alive today. Amazing cadenza, nice contrast between slow and fast sections, and tonal.