Piece for Alto Flute and Viola

This piece was written for a friend of mine, for an independent study flute project thing.

I wish the recording was better in terms of expression, because they could have done a lot more with it. But it's still a valid performance.

This piece is named Thermals because it reminded the flute player on this performance of Pilotwings and the thermals they have in the game. They're kind of like slow upwardspiraling air funnels, and in the game you fly in them to gain altitude when you're hang-gliding.

http://www.some1namedjeff.com/music/Thermals.mp3

1) This is truly good. I truly enjoyed it and downloaded it.

2) You should post a score. I have a violist friend who would love to sink his teeth in this.

3) I didn't find the performance lacking in expression.

4) It reminded a bit of Hindemith's viola sonatas.

5)Interesting instrument combination. Very interesting!

6) Cheers! I am going to check your other posts, to find if you have posted other works of yours!

Some things I've noticed.

The scary thing about this ensemble is that the alto flute has such as weak low range that even a viola could overpower it. Generally this is avoided, though there were some scary moments, I would say that it all worked. I would just make sure that the viola knows that when the flute is in its lower registers that it definitely stays out of the way.

When the flute is doing the arppegiations, you have to remember to let them breathe! The recording shows that the phrase had to be broken in awkward places.

The ending is a very scary place balance wise. I'm not sure what the score says, but it sounds like the violist is doing a flautando style bowing. If that's not in the score, it needs to be, because that string could definitely cover that last note of the flute up very easily.

Overall, I enjoyed listening to your piece.

I like the piece although I agree it could use more emotion expressed through the dynamics of the piece. Manossg said it reminds him of Hindemith. Tomorrow night I will see Paul Hindemith's, Symphonic Metamorphoses of Themes by Carl Maria von Weber. So It will be interesting.

Thanks for the comments!

I played first violin on Symphonic Metamorphosis last quarter, it's a ridiculous part. I'm not a very big fan of the piece personally, but it has a lot of interesting uses of orchestration.

What's interesting about the instrument selection, the flutist actually wanted it to be alto flute and viola, so it wasn't even my doing. I like the mellow sound they have though, especially on a piece like this.

When I wrote the piece initially I didn't put any breaks in the 16th notes because I figured the part could be played in a rubato fashion enough to merit room for breathing, but apparently not. In the score you'll see I added breathing spots, however slight they are.

In defense of the balance issues, a violist that plays in a chamber group inherently knows how to balance with another instrument. I think I'll give the performer the benefit of the doubt. The violist in this recording was... eh... it was a long day for both of them (no I didn't play the viola part, lol).

heres a score. I gave the performers the music in a score to make the piece a lot easier to learn: http://www.some1namedjeff.com/music/thermals_score.zip

Thanks for the score. :D

I am compiling a best young composers CD these days for some friends. This is good enough to be included. :toothygrin:

That was really cool!!! It's probably one of the better pieces I've heard on here. Great job!

Thanks violinfiddler! :laugh:

most of my music is at SoundClick artist: Jeff Ball - romantic or impressionist classical, or film, or electronica, or game soundtrack, or abstract music i've written if you're looking for my other works... a lot of them are videogame soundtrack style, but there are a good number of classical based works. There's a lot of piano works... like the Confusion suite, the Backwards Platypus Dance, or Dance of the Manic Child. heheh.

This is really stunning. The instruments have such a dark, beautiful sound and the piece really highlights that I think.