Instrumentation

8 concert flutes
– 2 double piccolo
– 2 double alto flute
– 2 double bass flute

Duration: 7m
Year of Composition: 2024

Perusal Score

Program Notes

When I was asked to write this piece for Flute Octet, I was told that the commission had originally been for my late friend and mentor, Jocelyn Morlock. Since Jocelyn’s passing in Spring 2023, I’ve been reflecting on the music I wrote while I was her student; on ideas that made us giddy, that I loved at the time. Over the past year, I’ve been re-evaluating those old pieces, trying to re-construct their core ideas in ways that feel more true to what I feel, and who I am now.

Thaw depicts a journey from cold to warmth, stillness to fluidity, and frustration to hope. The musical material, especially the 2nd half, has it’s origin in a piece called Wyrm that I wrote in 2019 for pierrot ensemble + percussion. Mark McGregor performed the flute part in Wyrm, which was written extremely high in the flute’s range toward the end of that piece. It’s about time that I got around to fixing it for him.

I’m incredibly grateful to Mark McGregor for commissioning Thaw for the Tempest Flute Ensemble.