For C Flute and Piano
By Kris Tiner, July 2012
Commissioned by Reiko Manabe & HIBARI
© 2012 Kris Tiner Music ASCAP

PROGRAM NOTES

This composition for flute and piano was written for flautist Reiko Manabe and her Hibari aid project for earthquake victims in northeastern Japan. The music is organized over a 19-part arch structure, generated via a web of internal pitch relationships derived from three modes of a nine-tone scale. The performers create their own route through each of the nineteen sections in order to organize and augment the written material, and also create a spontaneous dialogue between the two instruments. The title comes from a lyric by the great humanitarian poet-singer Bob Dylan, and the listener may observe a few oblique quotes from Dylan’s melody in the flute part.

PERFORMANCE INSTRUCTIONS

The entire piece should be taken slowly, quietly and carefully.

Rhythmic durations are relative. Black note heads are shorter and white note heads are longer.

Qualities of attack, articulation, and timbre are left to the discretion of the performers.

Pedaling for the piano is not indicated, but the pianist should make use of the sustain pedal to give each chord a ringing, distant bell-like quality.

All fermatas are optional, they indicate where a duration or a silence may be extended.

Each of the nineteen numbered sections should be thought of as one enclosed unit of musical material. Flute and piano should begin each section together but then proceed through the material independently (i.e. the parts do not have to align vertically).

The flautist should generally cue the start of each section, without any significant hesitation except where a grand pause is indicated.

Double-barred repeats enclose each section. Single-barred nested repeats can either loop or jump back to any other repeat within each section.

Improvisation sections should incorporate written material in the preceding section, as well as create a bridge to the next section.