CD Review
Laura Chislett | 100 years of Australian Flute Music
Wirripang: Catalogue number, WIRR 131
100 years of Australian Flute Music (1924-2024) is performed by Laura Chislett on flutes of various kinds, and Stephanie McCallum on piano for about half of the tracks.
This CD is a fascinating exploration of the development of the flute repertoire in the last 100 years in Australia, in particular the commissions that have recently come about and the muses that have inspired them. The sleeve notes are excellent because the explanations often come straight from the horses’ mouth – most of the composers are still alive and well.
There is a wide variety of flute techniques on display here, running the gamut of what seems to be possible on the flute. We start with a traditional composition – 2 pieces composed by Esther Rofe – for flute and piano, where the flute carries the melody and the piano accompanies with artistic configurations.
The first half of the CD is mainly traditional performances; meaning melody and accompaniment. We step into ‘exotic Asia’ in track 5, Ros Bandt’s Back to Ubud is ‘based upon a walk through the hills in tropical Bali… the work derives its Asian feel from the use of pentatonic scales.’ This music, for this listener, was appealing and memorable and showcased a stereotype of what the flute is good at.
The second half of the CD showcased music of a different kind. There were 2 pieces by Liza Lim for solo flute – Bioluminescence (track 9) and Lucid Dreaming (track 10) – and they had melodies but included flute special effects and other techniques as integral parts of the music. We are definitely on the ‘modern music’ trajectory by now.
We end the CD with a surprise – Keyna Wilkins’ The Old Window for solo flute and spoken voice. When I first heard it, I thought that an advertisement had somehow smuggled itself onto the CD, but then I realised it was a part of the performance. Upon reading the sleeve notes thoroughly, post-listening, I learnt that this piece is a ‘political statement’. I conclude this review with a fascinating philosophical debate question: where does the music finish and the political function of music begin?
