Folktale

Description

Alto Flute, Bass Flute — FOLKTALE was inspired by a tune I wrote some years ago for my dear friend, Dr. Vivien Bonazzi. A dedicated jazzlover who hails from Canberra, Australia, Vivien is an accomplished flutist and guitarist. (Her day job is at the NationalInstitute of Health in Maryland, as Program Director in Computational Biology and Bioinformatics at the NationalHuman Genome Research Institute). Vivien commissioned me to write her a flute piece, something with a jazz feel anda written-out flute solo that would sound as if she were improvising. I enthusiastically agreed and wrote a tune titledAll Things Being Equal (a wink and a nod to the mathematical side of her personality!). I performed it only once, witha rhythm section, just before handing Vivien the sheet music. I never gave it a second thought until a couple of yearslater, when I found myself on a recording date with bass flutist extraordinaire, Wendy Stern. We so enjoyed working (andplaying!) together that day, that we vowed to join forces again as soon as possible. To speed up the process, I decided towrite us a duet. When I sat down to start composing, the melody I had previously written for Vivien kept popping intomy head. It finally occurred to me that it would make the perfect duet. So, after some major reworking of the score,FOLKTALE emerged, and I now have two very good friends to thank for its inspiration! A beloved star in the international jazz world, Ali Ryerson has developed a large and enthusiastic following, particularly among alto and bass flutists in the traditionally classical flute community. FOLKTALE is an original work equally inspired by both worlds. Along with all the elegant counterpoint of baroque flute duets, FOLKTALE’s language is grounded in jazz harmony and rhythm, fully notated for the classically-trained performer. Performance suggestions are provided with hints on style and phrasing. When no bass flute is available, FOLKTALE may be played on C Flute and Alto.