Leaves From Modern Trees (2011)
for flute and piano
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John McMurtery, flute
Ashlee Mack, piano
Ashlee Mack, piano
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PROGRAM NOTE
Leaves From Modern Trees, for flute and piano, was commissioned by a consortium of flutists including Virginia Broffitt, Megan Lanz, John McMurtery, and Amber Waseen. Completed in January 2011, the work lasts approximately thirteen minutes in one continuous movement. After an opening section of interlocking staccato figures in both instruments, sustained notes in the piano induce a transition to slower, legato gestures. A piano solo marks the midpoint, with the re-entry of the flute triggering a gradual return to the original spiky texture before a brief coda in which increasingly lengthy silences perforate the momentum. The title is a lyric from the song “First Wave Intact” by The Secret Machines on their 2004 album Now Here Is Nowhere.