Concerto in C for Flute and Orchestra

Greetings!  Haven't stopped by in a while, thought I'd take the occasion of winning the 20 Year Membership badge (!) to drop in and share a big something I finished recently.  

This is one of those pieces I have worked with, off and on, for many years - I began composing it in 2001 and just finished it this summer.  I cannot account for exactly why it took me so long to bring this to completion, except that for much of that time I didn't feel worthy of the material I had sketched, and couldn't readily come up with ideas to match it in quality.  

This piece is in my usual Classical style, unusual mainly in that I have employed an exceptionally large orchestra, including three trombones.  Ostensibly, it is written for instruments of the period, roughly 1800 to 1810, though I have it on good authority that the flute part is in places nearly unplayable on a flute of that time - not impossible, but extremely difficult in such places as the frightful two-octave ascending chromatic scale in the first movement, and the mortifying cadenza in the third.  Ordinarily I would have edited the piece on such advice, but there comes a time when artistic vision must prevail, and this was one of those times.  

The opening movement is a standard Sonata-Allegro as typically modified for concerti in the Classical period.  The second movement (Andante) is broad and expressive.  The third movement is a Polonaise (Vivace alla Polacca) in the form of a Rondo.  

I hope you enjoy the piece, and as always I look forward to any comments you may have.  Thanks!