Join Cari Shipp, flute and Jeremy Thompson, piano for dynamic pieces for flute and piano from the twentieth century.

Program:

Copland - Duo for Flute and Piano (1971)

Griffes - Poem (1918)

Prokofiev - Sonata for Flute and Piano (1943)

Poetry, defined by Oxford: literary work in which special intensity is given to the expression of feelings and ideas by the use of distinctive style and rhythm; poems collectively or as a genre of literature.

Prose, defined by literarydevices.net: Prose is a literary device referring to writing that is structured in a grammatical way, with words and phrases that build sentences and paragraphs.

For this program, there is literally (ha) a piece entitled Poem, yes, and one of the movements of Copland's Duo is also entitled "Poetic." In these pieces we hear, as Oxford says, the intensity and attention given to expression and feelings. A willingness to depart from the assumed structures and usual rules of music and take something already expressive and draw the listener in even deeper. It is poignant for us in this moment of history that Charles Tomlinson Griffes died at age 35 in 1920 during the Spanish Influenza pandemic a mere two years after writing Poem. 

Prose comes from the "distinctly original" composer (in the words of Richard Taruskin) Sergei Prokofiev, whose four-movement sonata shows exquisite structure while still embodying the full gambit of emotions and intensities one would expect from a Russian exile in the 20th century. 

These works from two American composers, Copland and Griffes, with the Russian world-traveler, Prokofiev, all come from the span of just over 50 years (though a harrowing 50 years it was, aren't they all). In these works we hear stories and isolated thoughts, cohesion and the sprinkling of ideas, culminating in a compelling collection of poetry and prose.