Flute trio
SKU:
P2.10022
Composed by
Cornelius Boots. Chamber
music, 20th century.
Published by Potenza
Music (P2.10022).
The third part
of the Chthonic Flute
Suite commissioned by
Areon Flutes in 2012.
This suite has two main
inspirations:
ideologically it draws
guidance from the book
The Dream and the
Underworld (1979)by James
Hillman (1926-2011) and
musically it explores the
textural possibilities of
a flute ensemble within
the context of the heavy
chamber music style I
have developed with
Edmund Welles: the bass
clarinet quartet since
1996. This style draws
virtuosic precision from
the classical realm;
innovation and texture
from jazz; and power,
rhythm and overall
perspective from rock and
metal. The term chthonic
[thon-ik] generally means
underworld. However,
Hillman thoroughly
elaborates that its true
meaning extends below the
earth and beyond it into
invisible, non-physical
and far distant psychic
realms: the deeper
mysteries of the
invisible. The trio is
divided into three
sections: The Way We
Descend--Reflection of
Narcissus--Below Nature.
Taking a break from Greek
myth-nerd terms, this
movement introduces
chthonic-flavored phrases
that elaborate on our
descent into the
underworld, specifically
through dreams. The realm
of the underworld can be
such a shock to our
dayworld, limited, egoic
consciousness that it can
seem like a violation as
Hillman points out,
referencing the Greeks:
This style of the
underworld experience is
overwhelming, it comes as
violation, dragging one
out of life and into the
Kingdom that the Orphic
Hymn to Pluto describes
as 'void of day.' So it
often says on Greek
epitaphs that entering
Hades is 'leaving the
sweet sunlight.' (p.49)
He elaborates on the
differences between
dayworld and underworld
perspectives: The dream
is not compensation but
initiation. It does not
complete
ego-consciousness, but
voids it. So it matters
very much the way we
descend. (p.112) He goes
on to describe the
various modes in which
mythical figures have
descended: Ulysses and
Aenas to learn; Hercules
to take and to test, for
example. To act like
Hercules, like the hero,
in the underworld is to
miss the point and cause
more problems, the
villain in the underworld
is the heroic ego, not
Hades. (p.113).
