Thom Ritter George

CONCERTO FOR FLUTE, CN 223 (1966)

                         PROGRAM NOTES

 
     Thom Ritter George's CONCERTO FOR FLUTE was written in early 1966 on commission from the music publisher P. Litchard Toland.  Mr. Toland requested two special features for the new work.  The first was that the solo part should be written with optional scoring for piccolo in certain passages.  Adah Toland, the publisher's daughter, was a young player who liked to alternate between flute and piccolo.

     Mr. Toland's second request was that there should be three versions of the accompaniment - orchestra, piano, and wind ensemble.  In his role as Orchestra Librarian for the Eastman School of Music, he had seen many situations where accompaniment alternatives were needed.  From the composer's viewpoint, it is certainly possible to provide three idiomatic accompaniments provided that desire was known before composition started.

     The flute and chamber orchestra was completed on January 17, 1966.  The flute and piano accompaniment was finished on February 8, 1966.  It took somewhat longer to score the flute and wind ensemble version, completed on October 30, 1966.  The music was composed in Detroit, Michigan and Washington, D.C.

     The CONCERTO FOR FLUTE is in three movements and follows the classic fast-slow-fast tempo arrangement.  The first movement is a lilting pastorale.  The second movement is an introspective song built on an expressive melody for the solo flute, and the third movement has a virtuoso character which brings the score to a brilliant close.

*****

(TRGcm:2001.05.12)