To Music
for solo flute (2003)
Noteworthy Sheet Music, 5 minutes
2011 Anthology of Contemporary Concert Music
Capstone, Navona CDs & iTunes
“…sensitivity in Vercoe’s four short movements for solo flute.” (Infodad.com)
“highly abstract, yet accessible” (WRUV Reviews)
“….successfully showcases the colors and techniques available to the modern flute.” (Audiophile Audition)
To Music (2003) is a short, atmospheric solo for flute in four contrasting sections. At times the music is virtuosic, occasionally calling for multiphonics and other special effects.
The titles of the four sections are taken from the haunting poetry of the Russian writer, Anna Akhmatova, a poet deeply interested in music. The titles are: “my voice like a flute;” “quietly, oh God so quietly, that it is audible is how time passes;” “music’s shadow flashed on the wall;” and “as if all the flowers broke into words.” The piece was commissioned by flutist Lisa Vanarsdel and written for her and for the Laurels Flute Project.
In February of 2005, To Music was premiered by flutist Peter H. Bloom on the Quincy Library concert series in Quincy, Massachusetts. He has also performed the piece many times throughout the U.S., Thailand, New Zealand, and Australia.
In 2009 Capstone Records issued a recording, the second volume of the Laurels Flute Project, with flutist Nancy Stagnitta performing. Nancy Stagnitta has also recorded To Music on a Navona CD and performed it at Interlochen, at the National Flute Convention in New York, on the Amalfi Coast Festival in Italy, at master classes in Ohio and Boston, and at the École normale supérieure in Paris.
The score is published by Noteworthy Sheet Music and also appears in the 2011 Anthology of Contemporary Concert Music.
