Ménage à trois

On the 18th of this month, together with my highly esteemed friends the flutist Jaime Salas and violist Jose Manuel Saiz we'll give the world premiere of my new trio, Ménage à trois. ............................................................................................................................................. This 9-minute suite is a commission from the Concurso de Musica de Camara Ecoparque of Arnuero, Cantabria, and we have the privilige of premiering it during the opening concert of the competition. I would like to provide the trio with something light, humorous and exciting rhythmically, since most of the works in this repertoire are in "serious" mood. I have written a very short piece many years ago for this formation, right after reading Walt Whitman's "A Farm Picture" which is only 3 lines long. That poem was so atmospherically powerful that the music just popped up in my head. We played it last year as an encore, and when Antonio Margallo, the organizer of the competition commissioned me a piece for this year, I told him that A Farm Picture would be incorporated in this 3-movement suite. It becomes the second, or central movement of this so-called suite. By the way, each of the movements could still be performed separately, if any trio of this formation would need an encore. ................................................ The first movement, Scherzophrenia, is scored for only flute and viola, since I wanted to explore the possibilities of this duo. There are some nice works written for this duo in the past; I would mention those by Malcolm Arnold and the 18th century composer Francois Devienne. And the third movement, Spaghetti Western Revisited is a kind of an tribute to Ennio Morricone's music for spaghetti western from an Indonesian admirer; let's just say that I imagine a Spaghetti Western movie being made in the savanas of Indonesia! Of course some Indonesian musical modes are (unconsciously and spontaneously) present in this movement. I am so glad to learn that after I finished it, and 2 weeks before our premiere, the Maestro won his first Academy Award with 87 years of age!

The flute, all the flute and nothing but the flute

After a highly exciting concert (+discussions +lunch +gossipping) of JAKFlute (the Jakarta Flute Community whose members are always growing) at my place, the Ananda Sukarlan Center last Sunday July 31st, my sheet music with all my chamber & solo works involving the flute is now officially published. It was launched during that concert last Sunday. Its title is "Narcissus Dying and other works for flute(s)". It took me several days to decide on the cover. The most natural is of course using John William Waterhouse's painting of Narcissus as it was the painting that helped me shape the piece. At last I cropped the painting "Echo and Narcissus" of Waterhouse, took only the Narcissus part as its cover. All my flute music are connected with someone (mostly flutists), except "Rescuing Ariadne" which really just popped up from the blue. Well, Titian's painting was the trigger, but I didn't specifically write it for someone. There are 8 titles in that book: -Narcissus Dying (now becoming my most popular work for flute) -Rescuing Ariadne -My recently premiered "The Sicilian Diary" for 3 flutes -You Had Me at Hello (3 movements for flute solo, for Chendra Panatan's choreography) -Vega & Altair's Love Song (for flute & harp) -2 pieces for piccolo solo, for Rudy & Liz's 2 boys -Prelude & Intermezzo from my opera "Ibu yang anaknya diculik itu", which is original written for flute & piano. Therefore this is not an arrangement -Choreographic prelude to "Bibirku Bersujud di bibirmu". Now this title is missing on the score, but written down in the index of the book. This piece is a prelude (but can be performed separately) from my piece for soprano & piano based on the highly moving poem of Hasan Aspahani. Aaaand ... I will use this opportunity to thank my flutty friends: Liz Ashford, Wendela van Swol, Roberto Alvarez, Mesty Ariotedjo who is also the ambassador of our dear Indonesian Classical Music Foundation (YMSI), founders of JakFlute Metta F.Ariono & Marini Marnoto, my new flutty friend Andika Candra and many more flutists who have played my music. I learned a lot from listening to you all playing it, and glad that you include my music in your repertoire. Hope my music can enrich the tutti flutty world!