Sleeve Notes

The story so far - new readers join here!!

In 1992, Kate Walsh, a graduate of London College of Music and a student of Ann Cherry and James Dower, released her début recording "What Katie Did" of repertoire for solo flute and flute and piano. This revealed a world of piccolos called Monty, of teddy hears in evening dress, and a recording label called Tootling Ted. The CD text wonders what Katie may do next - Kate herself takes up the story.

“Since completing "What Katie Did” my flute family has more than doubled, I have spent a lot of time and effort developing my technique and style and I have had some real opportunities to develop my experience. Lydia, my instrument on this recording, is a silver “Vanguard” model, built by John Lunn to my specification. It comes with a 14 carat gold head. I have been seduced by the richer, slightly more mellow sound that gold can produce. I still have Silvester, but mainly use him as a spare at the moment. The flute family has grown with the addition of a bass flute, a flute in E Flat and a flute d’amore in A, a fine instrument for which I have major plans.”

“Those of you who have heard “What Katie Did” may be surprised at the difference in the flute sound. I had felt Instinctively that I needed to develop tny sound still further and so I went back to the drawing board. With the kind help of Colin Fleming and hours upon hours of the musical equivalent of square-bashing, I was able to knock myself into the shape you can hear on this recording.”

“I have had the chance to perform some of the major works of the repertoire with orchestra. The Mozart Andante in St John’s, Smith Square and the Chaminade Concertino stick in my mind. I have been involved in some fine opera performances and an association with two Flute Orchestras has led to tours to France and Germany. I have also been invited to play piccolo with the Mexican Flute Orchestra in Mexico City. Two unexpected gigs on cruise ships in the Caribbean and the Baltic, allowed me to play with light music and jazz groups which I very much enjoyed.”

Born in Portsmouth, Jane Money studied singing with Ronald Stear before taking up a Choral Scholarship at the Royal Holloway College, University of London. After an interval teaching, further awards enabled her to continue her studies at the Royal Northern College of Music and subsequently with Sylvia Jacobs. Jane has sung regularly for Glyndebourne, including a well-reviewed Madame Larina (Eugene Onegin) with Glyndebourne Touring Opera. She has also performed with Kentish Opera and Dublin Grand Opera. She is also much in demand on the concert platform with solo engagements taking her over much of Britain and Europe.

Alicia Chislett studied at the Royal Academy of Music and at the Royal Conservatoire Brussels. A talented multi-instrumentalist, she has given recitals and broadcast extensively in England and abroad. Although her first study is the piano, (with a speciality of the Fortepiano), she has also for many years played and taught the viola and the cello.

On this disc I have attempted to mix well known flute “classics” with lesser known but equally good repertoire. I also decided to include repertoire for flute & viola and flute & voice to add some contrast to the solo flute sound. It was my intention to show the many different timbres that can be achieved on the flute, ranging from the limpid pan pipe sound in Kokopeli to the hard dramnatic sounds we are more used to in the Fukushima pieces. The flute is an instrument of many voices, a fact we should not lose sight of.

Programme Notes

1. Katherine Hoover: Reflections This set of variations was written when Katherine Hoover was performer in residence at Artpark near Niagara Falls. It was inspired by some ancient Norwegian Gregorian chant. She says in her text that she wrote and performed a different variation each day, from a pencilled draft. She then re-ordered the variations and added an ending to make the piece complete.

2. Katherine Hoover: Kokopeli Kokopeli was a hump-backed flute player who was believed to be a fertility god, a legendary hero of the Hopi. He is said to have led the migrations through the Southwest, the sound of his flute echoing through the great canyons and cliffs. The piece opens with what I perceive to be an invocation to urge the travellers on. This recurs throughout the piece. I have chosen to use a totally different type of sound to evoke the pan pipe Kokopeli played. The rest of the piece describes the migration, the heat and the human endeavour: urged on by the soulful flute.

3-9. Katherine Hoover: 7 Haiku (First Recording): Written in 1973, these are seven delightful settings for flute & voice. The style is modern but hidden behind the chromatic writing are themes linking the work. Each Haiku is set with a different mood in mind.
A Haiku is a short, very intense Japanese verse form.

10-13. J S Bach: Solo Sonata in C major This piece ttiay be more familiar as Sonata No 4 in the set of six sonatas. However recent thinking now believes that the keyboard part was added later to what in fact was a solo sonata. Having played both versions I am persuaded to this way of thinking as the flute line feels so harmonically complete. Also the lack of rests could imply it was conceived as a solo piece. Robert Marshall believes that the piano part was added later by CPE Bach as an exercise.

14. Carl Nielsen: The Children are Playing Is taken from incidental music written for Helga Rodes play “The Mother”. This is a short fragment written for solo flute. When I play this I always visualise my niece Charlotte aged three playing in the back garden of her home, skitting from one attraction to the next.

15. Carl Nielsen: Faith & Hope are Playing This is also taken from the incidental mttsic written for “The Mother” and is a flute and viola duet. It is another short fragment where the flute represents Hope and the viola Faith.

16. Telemann Fantasia No 4 in B flat Telemann wrote the 12 unaccompanied Fantasias originally as a composition exercise to demonstrate various compositional techniques. The works are almost like written tint improvisations with a lot of the detail left to the player.

17. Kazuo Fukushima: Requiem This piece was written before Fukushima began his collaboration with Gazzelloni. Simon & I believe it is a piece about mourning. The beginning is calm and then suddenly a turbulent section betrays the underlying emotion. The mourner struggles to regain their calm only for the raw emotion to break through again. The ending of the work amplifies the deep sorrow just beneath the surface.

18. Kazuo Fukushima: Mei Was originally the 2nd movement of a piece for Flute, strings & percussion called Hi-Kyo. It was always intended for solo flute and takes its rhythm and sonority from traditional Japanese music. Many of the techniques used are employed when playing the Shakuhatchi and Fui (Japanese ethnic flutes). This work was composed after the collaboration with Severino Gazzelloni had begun. There are extended techniques such as quarter tones, flutter tonguing, key clicks, very wide ranging dynamics and note bending both using the lip and open hole glissandos.

19-21. CPE Bach: Solo sonata in A minor Together with the JS Bach unaccompanied A minor sonata, this sonata is considered to be one of the most important works for solo flute. It displays great sensitivity and an almost romantic expressiveness. The slow 1st movement ends with a cadenza added by the performer. In the third movement the last 2 lines can be interpreted as a written out cadenza as I have done in this performance.
(Cadenza Kate Walsh)

22. Richard Peirson: Contrasts - World Premiere This piece was commissioned specially for the recording. It is a setting for voice and flute of one of my poems from the collection Epithalamium, published by Minerva Press. Richard works with Scottish Opera as a repetiteur and also as a freelance accompanist, which is how we met. He has composed several works including a piece for strings and various anthems. He has recently written a piece for orchestra and string quartet as part of a lottery project, which is due to be published.

Contrasts by Kate Watsh

In the dark tight
Something glistens
A tiny shining star
Against the inky backdrop of nightfall

A cool cream moon
Hovers in the firmament
Casting ghostly rays
On the snoozing earth below

In another hemisphere
A bright sun streams down
Frotn a perfect azure sky
Warming the earth

Animals stretch lazily in the sunlight
People ptacidty siesta
Sparkling blue water
Soaks up the sun to refresh the fish below

Two total contrasts
Yet in absolute harmnony
Night turns into day
The earth keeps spinning
To keep us alive

23-24 Anon: Danny Boy & Down by the Salley Gardens (for Colin Fleming) Two wonderful melodies in the Irish style from this prolific composer! I have included these as they were pivotal pieces in my flute playing. I have spent many hours working on them for sound. I always think of the view out of Colin's teaching room onto the lush Irish countryside and the mountains of Mourne.