PROGRAM NOTE
EAST WIND for solo flute was commissioned by the National Flute Association for its annual Young Artists Competition, and was first performed by the six semi-finalists at the l988 San Diego NFA Convention. The work’s opening motif is a slightly varied treatment of the simplest of ideas—a single note which is then encircled in a flourish-like gesture by its neighboring tones, consisting of a half step above and whole step below. It is this varied treatment, though, immediately conveying a hint of ecstasy and abandon, that imbues the motif with its distinctness and recognizable quality, maintained throughout the journey undertaken as the piece unfolds.
EAST WIND’s central image—from within its ornamented, inflected, winding, twisting, at times convoluted lines, a gentle melody gradually emerges…
The work is dedicated to the memory of Karen Monson, a writer, critic and friend, who died in February 1988 at the age of 42, after the work was already fully composed.
—Shulamit Ran
recordings
Mary Stolper, flute: Shulamit Ran MIRAGE, Chamber Music with Flute, ERATO 0630-12787-2
Patricia Spencer, flute: Da Capo Chamber Players Music by Shulamit Ran, Bridge Records BCD 9052
Noam Buchman, flute: Noam Buchman, Solo Flute, Jerusalem Music Center JMC-SP3
Nina Assimakopoulos, flute: Points of Entry, the Laurels Project Vol. I, CPS-8759
Kristen Stoner, flute: Images for solo flute, Meyer Media LLC MM09006
Rachel Rudich, flute: incantations, Independent label, Rachel Rudich CD 21.5
Angela Massey, flute: The Elements, Independent label
INFORMATION
Commissioned by the National Flute Association for its 1988 Young Artists Competition
Premiere:
August 19, 1988
by the competition’s
six semi-finalists
Annual NFA Convention,
San Diego, CA
Duration: c. 5’30
SHEET MUSIC
Available from your favorite sheet music seller, or directly from Theodore Presser.