Sasha Ishov presents Airscapes: Solo Music for Flute and Alto Flute from the 20th and 21st Century, a recital championing the stylistic and demographic diversity of modern flute repertoire.

PROGRAM

Argoru III (1971)
Alvin Singleton (b. 1940)

Sonatina for Solo Flute (1978)
Sofia Gubaidulina (1931-2025)

Euterpe’s Caprice (2008)
Augusta Read Thomas (b. 1964)

Ternura de las Grullas (1995)
Alba Potes (b. 1954)

Ascèses (1968)
André Jolivet (1905-1974)

Lluvia de Toritos (1984)
Javier Álvarez (1956-2023)

PROGRAM NOTES

Argoru III is the third in a series of solo works by Alvin Singleton, with “argoru” meaning “to play” in the Ghanaian Twi language. Singleton draws on a wide range of influences—“from Mahler to Monk, Bird to Bernstein, James Baldwin to Bach, Santana to Price” (Philadelphia Inquirer). Argoru III reflects this fusion of styles, balancing bursts of kinetic energy with moments of spacious lyricism. Composer and author Carman Moore writes in his performance notes: “Quicksilver runs and leaps alternate with cantabile moments, like light falling through trees in a forest.”

In her Sonatina for solo flute, Sofia Gubaidulina uses breath marks of varying lengths to shape the work’s dramatic pacing, creating moments of tense silence. A deeply spiritual composer, Gubaidulina explored themes of transcendence and constraint, a reflection of the political repression she faced in the USSR, where her music was criticized for its avant-garde tendencies. Her use of silence as a structural element is perhaps, therefore, a metaphor for artistic expression within constrained societies—where sound and silence are both acts of resistance and revelation. Other works for flute, such as Sounds of the Forest and The Deceitful Face of Hope and Despair, further demonstrate her philosophical and literary influences, drawing inspiration from poetry, mysticism, and nature.

Dedicated to the renowned flutist Claire Chase, Euterpe’s Caprice by Augusta Read Thomas is a vibrant and playful tribute to Euterpe, the muse of flute playing and lyric poetry in Greek mythology. The piece sparkles with dance-like energy, weaving rapid flourishes, rhythmic vitality, and shimmering expressivity into a display of color and motion. A prolific and highly acclaimed composer, Thomas is known for her bold, lyrical style and masterful handling of instrumental color. Her music often explores organic growth, spontaneity, and a deep connection to poetic and visual influences—qualities that shine through in Euterpe’s Caprice, where the flute’s agility and brilliance are on full display.

Inspired by the traditional shakuhachi melody Tsuru no Sugomori (“The Nesting of Cranes”), Ternura de las Grullas (“Tenderness of Cranes”) by Alba Potes juxtaposes contemporary Western flute techniques with phrasing and pacing reminiscent of shakuhachi music. A Colombian composer who lived in New York for many years, Potes crafts an intimate soundscape that captures the fluidity of breath and exploratory textures, blurring lines between influences and aesthetics. Her work often engages with cross-cultural dialogue, reflecting both Latin American and international contemporary music traditions.

After a three-decade hiatus from monophonic compositions, André Jolivet composed Ascèses (Asceticisms), a five-movement work for solo alto flute. Having previously written extensively for the instrument—including the often-performed Chant de Linos (1944)—Jolivet returned to the solo flute with Ascèses, offering the performer space for reflection and meditation, much like his earliest work for the instrument, Cinq Incantations (1936). Each movement concludes with a line of poetry, reflecting Jolivet’s deep spiritual and philosophical influences:

I. Pour que demeure le secret, nous tairons jusqu'au silence.
“So that the secret endures, we remain silent until silence itself.”
—Max-Pol Fouchet

II. Tu surgis de l'absence...
“You emerge from absence...”
—Max-Pol Fouchet

III. Matière, triple abîme des étoiles, des atomes et des générations.
"Matter, a triple abyss of stars, of atoms, and generations."
— Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

IV. Le dieu a créé les rêves pour indiquer la route au dormeur dont les yeux sont dans l'obscurité.
”God created dreams to guide the sleeper whose eyes dwell in darkness.”
—Papyrus Insinger

V. Ô femme qui ne sais que tu portais en toi le monde.
“O woman, unaware that you bore the world within you.”
— Max-Pol Fouchet

Taking inspiration from Francisco Goya’s etching Lluvia de Toros, which depicts bulls floating surreally through the air, Javier Álvarez’s Lluvia de Toritos (“Rain of Little Bulls”) transforms this imagery into sound. Blurring the lines between dream and reality, the piece evokes an aural “rain of bulls,” immersing listeners in a vivid and otherworldly sonic landscape. The title may also allude to the Toritos de Pucará, small Peruvian bull figurines traditionally placed on rooftops for protection and prosperity. A Mexican composer with an expansive and eclectic career, Álvarez integrated folk instruments into experimental music, composed electroacoustic works, and engaged with a wide variety of musical styles. His work is marked by a fascination with sonic textures and spatial movement, qualities that Lluvia de Toritos brings to life in a playfully surreal and immersive sound world.

Francisco Goya, Lluvia de Toros, c. 1820