The New York Flute Club N E W S L E T T E R December 2002 TOMORROW’S CLASSICS: Recent Flute Pieces With Staying Power Interviews by Cathy Comrie DITOR’S NOTE: Cathy Comrie interviewed Lewis Spratlan, Harold Meltzer, David Macbride, and Harvey Sollberger by telephone in October. She asked them about the origins of the programmed compositions’ titles, the influences inspiring their Lewis Spratlan (b. 1940) E Mayflies (2000) work, and the effect of their experiences as performers on their style as composers. Short biographies of the composers not interviewed—David Froom, Matthew CATHY COMRIE: I read an inter- Greenbaum, and Frank Wigglesworth—can be found on page 7. view you did with Frank Oteri* where he was talking about composers who had nonmusical connec- tions to music, and you said you were very In Concert tied into biological processes. Is that why HIGHLIGHTS OF THE NEW you named your piece “Mayflies”? LEWIS SPRATLAN: I wish it were as com- Sunday, December 15, 2002, 5:30 pm plicated and interesting a reason as that. CAMI Hall, 165 West 57th Street In fact it was the title of the title poem in a collection of poems by Richard Wilbur that provided the text for the piece, so I Mayflies for soprano and flute quartet (2000) just stayed with it. Coincidentally, it hap- Lewis Spratlan Lucy Shelton, soprano; Flute Force (Rie Schmidt, pens to be one of a kind of large number (b. 1940) Wendy Stern, Patti Monson, Sheryl Henze, flutes) of pieces of mine that have animals, or at New York Premiere least non-human creatures of one sort or another, as their subject. I have a piece Harold Meltzer Rumors for solo flute (1999) called “When Crows Gather,” two songs (b. 1966) Patti Monson, flutes from a song cycle (Images) called “Moth” and “Oyster,” and a whole separate song cycle called Wolves. This is not something David Macbride Shadow for two baroque flutes (1993) (b. 1951) John Solum, Richard Wyton, flutes that’s particularly thematic to me in a (cont’d on page 10) *www.newmusicbox.org/first-person/jun00/index.html Harvey Sollberger To the Spirit Unappeased and Peregrine (1998) I N T H I S I S S U E (b. 1938) for flute and clarinet Jennifer Grim, flute; Meighan Stoops, clarinet Tomorrow’s Classics ................... 1 Four interviews by Cathy Comrie David Froom Duettino for flute and clarinet (2001) From the President ..................... 2 (b. 1951) Jennifer Grim, flute; Meighan Stoops, clarinet New Music and New Poetry Member Profile ........................... 3 Susan Deaver Matthew Dance Moments for flute and piano (2000) Greenbaum Judith Pearce, flute and Elizabeth DiFelice, piano How the Program Was Chosen ... 4 (b. 1950) By Patricia Spencer More Program Composers .......... 7 Three biographies Frank Lake Music for solo flute Wigglesworth Judith Pearce, flute Announcements (1918–1996) Flute Happenings ............................... 3 2003 Flute Fair Update....................... 4 Program subject to change. NYFC Annual Competition ................ 4 2 — NYFC Newsletter New Poetry and New Music by Jayn Rosenfeld ear Friends: THE NEW YORK FLUTE CLUB INC. D 2002–2003 Here’s a gesture of welcome to New Poetry and New Music—some early holiday cheer for you Board of Directors from Sailing Alone Around the Room* by Billy Jayn Rosenfeld, President Collins, our country’s poet laureate. I hope you Jan Vinci, First Vice President like these poems, and I hope to see you at our Ardith Bondi, Second Vice President gala holiday concert of musical discoveries on Svjetlana Kabalin, Recording Secretary December 15. Michele Smith, Membership Secretary From the James Blair, Treasurer President Happy Holidays — Jayn Katherine Fink Bärli Nugent Rochelle Itzen Rie Schmidt Sue Ann Kahn Patricia Spencer Robert Langevin Nancy Toff Patricia Zuber Advisory Board Julius Baker Gerardo Levy Jeanne Baxtresser Laurence Libin Harold Jones Marya Martin Past Presidents A Gift Denied Georges Barrère .................. 1920–1944 John Wummer ...................... 1944–1947 [EDITOR’S NOTE:] Jayn Rosenfeld’s proffered Billy Collins poems, “Another Rea- Milton Wittgenstein ............ 1947–1952 son Why I Don’t Keep a Gun in the House” and “Piano Lessons,” are destined, Mildred Hunt Wummer ...... 1952–1955 for the time being, to be a gift denied. Last minute legal concerns about allow- Frederick Wilkins ................. 1955–1957 able interpretations of the “fair use” provision of U.S. copyright law (section Harry H. Moskovitz ............. 1957–1960 Paige Brook ........................... 1960–1963 107, available to interested readers on pp. 5–6 of www.loc.gov/copyright/circs/ Mildred Hunt Wummer ...... 1963–1964 circ21.pdf) led us reluctantly to the decision that we should not print these Maurice S. Rosen ................ 1964–1967 poems without the explicit permission of the publisher. Better to err on the side Harry H. Moskovitz ............. 1967–1970 of caution than to risk the reputation (and treasury!) of the NYFC. So we will Paige Brook ........................... 1970–1973 make do with synopses and a few excerpted lines. Eleanor Lawrence ............... 1973–1976 Piano Lessons* Harold Jones ........................ 1976–1979 Eleanor Lawrence ............... 1979–1982 Another Reason Why I Don’t by Billy Collins Paige Brook ........................... 1982–1983 Keep a Gun in the House*† “My teacher lies on the floor John Solum ........................... 1983–1986 by Billy Collins Eleanor Lawrence ............... 1986–1989 with a bad back…” Sue Ann Kahn ...................... 1989–1992 “The neighbors’ dog In this poem the narrator is a Nancy Toff ............................. 1992–1995 will not stop barking…” Rie Schmidt ........................... 1995–1998 slightly bewildered, motivationally Patricia Spencer ................... 1998–2001 So begins this Billy Collins poem challenged piano student who is Jan Vinci ................................. 2001–2002 about a noisome neighborhood dog. learning to play a piece called “It The narrator tries to drown out the Might As Well Be Spring.” Billy Newsletter barking by playing a Beethoven sym- Collins’s description of the boredom Katherine Saenger, Editor 115 Underhill Road phony full blast, and then imagines and frustrations of this student and Ossining, NY 10562 the dog sitting in the oboe section of his indifferent teacher may remind (914) 762-8582 the orchestra, barking his part as if many of their childhood piano [email protected] Beethoven wrote it for him. Unfortu- lessons...or, as is more likely to be Alice Barmore, Layout/Production nately for the narrator, this version the case for NYFC members, provide 125 Christopher St., #4H of the Beethoven symphony appears a glimpse into the minds and les- New York, NY 10014 to conclude with an endless coda for son-time daydreams of our less at- (212) 675-9706 (phone and fax) solo barking dog. tentive flute students. [email protected] *Billy Collins, Sailing Alone Around the Room: New and Selected Poems, New York: Random House, www.nyfluteclub.org September 2001 † Copyright © 2002 by The New York Flute Club Inc. This and other poems by Billy Collins can be found on the poet’s website at www.bigsnap.com. unless otherwise noted. All rights reserved. December 2002 — 3 FLUTE HAPPENINGS Member Profile study, 1975-1982; Ransom Wilson at MSM, 1988-1990. Susan Deaver O CDECEMBER T O B E R 2 ’02 0 0 2 NYFC member since 1972 High school: Cheyenne Central High DEC Sunday 2:30 pm School in Cheyenne, Wyoming (class The Sonata Trio with Tamara Employment: Freelance 15 of 1969). Freeman, violin, Nancy Horowitz, flutist/conductor. flute, and Noriko Kubo, piano, will be playing seasonal works and trio sonatas by Recent recitals/performances: As a flutist: Degrees: B.M. (1975), M.M. (1976) in Quantz and Stamitz. concerts with the Pierrot Consort at the flute performance from MSM; D.M.A. • Emmanuel Baptist Church, 14 Hope Street (at 2002 C.W. Post Chamber Music Festival (1994) from MSM with a doctoral thesis E. Ridgewood Ave), Ridgewood, NJ • Admis- entitled “The Group for Contemporary sion is free • Info, call 201-444-7300 or email at Long Island University (LIU) this summer, Nancy at [email protected]. and a performance of Bach’s Brandenburg Music from 1962 to 1992.” Concerto No. 2 at St. Peter’s Church at O C T O B E R 2 0 0 2 Citicorp Center, NYC in September. As Notable and/or personally satisfying JANUARY ’03 (i) Her combined a music director/conductor: Brahms’ accomplishment(s): careers as a freelance performer (as a con- Saturday 8:00 pm Academic Festival Overture, Mussorgsky’s JAN ductor and flutist) and teacher (as a facul- Night on Bald Mountain and Rimsky- 4 Zara Lawler, flute, will perform ty member of C.W. Post/LIU, SUNY Stony works by Roussel, Liebermann, Korsakov’s Scheherazade with the SUNY Brook and MSM Preparatory Division); Meltzer, Corigliano, and Copland in a St. Stony Brook University Orchestra (on Paul’s Festival of the Arts recital with Colette (ii) the successes of her former students, Nov. 12, 2002), and a program of Valentine, piano, and Mary Ellen Callahan, some of whom have continued their soprano. orchestral music influenced by Japan studies at MSM and Eastman School of • St. Paul’s Methodist Church, So. Broadway and China with the C.W. Post Orchestra Music and gone on to professional music and Division Avenue, Nyack, NY • Admission at LIU (on December 9, 2002). $6 • Info, 845-352-1795. careers, and others who have continued Career highlight(s): A 1972 fellowship to to keep music as an important part of Sunday 8:30 pm Tanglewood where she performed in their lives though not pursuing music JAN the Fellowship Orchestra conducted by professionally; (iii) being a musician in 12 Michael Parloff will perform works by Martinu, Spohr/Mozart, Leonard Bernstein (Mahler Symphony NYC working with so many wonderful Debussy, Beethoven, Takemitsu, and Jolivet No. 9) and Seiji Ozawa (Mahler Symphony colleagues and students. in a recital with guest artists Mariko Anraku, No.