Bass flute solo
SKU:
P2.10020
Composed by
Cornelius Boots. Solo
music, 20th century.
Published by Potenza
Music (P2.10020).
The first 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 journey to
the underworld is a solo
undertaking of the self,
towards the unknown, yet
still rooted within. The
low bass tones invoke
mystery and point the
direction. As an
explorer, licensed
teacher of and composer
for the shakuhachi (an
ancient Zen flute crafted
from the thicker root-end
of bamboo) I have become
initiated into the
sense-characteristics of
playing a flute that has
actual roots as part of
its structure. Physically
this changes the balance,
sonically it presents
certain deepening
qualities, and
aesthetically it alters
your connection to the
dead and dried piece of
nature. I have composed
27 solo pieces and etudes
for Taimu (a very thick,
bass variant on the
traditional shakuhachi
flute) and tapped into
the same dense, slow,
timbral approach for this
movement. However, the
chromatic, metal, modern
bass flute offers a whole
new set of possibilities
and so the movement
explores a wide realm of
sounds and tempos. Being
rooted in the actual
ground is an appropriate
starting point for the
underworld exploration of
the whole suite that only
goes deeper from this
point downwards. The
primacy of the root pitch
in tonal music is another
contributing facet to the
root aspect of this
title.
