Werther’s World

Su Wu Tends Sheep

Dialogue with Demolition

Werthers Original

Well, it included a cycle to Markham with my bubble-wrapped hard-drive safely stowed in my gunny-sack, but my data recovery is now under way. On my return I had a glimpse here through the hoarding to the site of a building, now vanished except for this mysterious doorway. I discovered that, incredibly, beyond the doorway is a most extraordinary, cavernous chamber with the most incredible acoustics to explore since the start of UrbanFlute!

The first piece, recorded in this underground space, is featured in the new RCM Flute Syllabus Grade 8 Studies, and is a western transcription of a traditional Chinese Bamboo Flute melody depicting a captured warrior, banished for a winter in the remote steppes of China. The second piece, Holst’s Jupiter, was recorded as the original building was in the midst of being demolished.

And the third piece I recorded in the stairwell at CBL after dropping off my hard-drive Despite the warm welcome that I reeived at CBL, it was still like a waiting room for expectant fathers. As I nervously anticipated news on how my data recovery was going to turn out, I helped myself to a candy from a bowl on the counter, Werther’s , one of my favorites…With a hard candy to soothe me, I suddenly realized a funny coincidence: I had by chance brought along by far my most dog-eared book of music folios, Tone Development Through Interpretation, which includes excerpts from Massenet’s Werther! The brooding sense of love and loss conveyed in the music matched my mood as I wondered if I would ever see my recent photos and sound files ever again!

Affectionately referred to as ‘the flutist’s bible’, Marcel Moyse’s ‘Tone Development Through Interpretation’ is a veritable well-spring of inspiration, using primarily classic opera excerpts, structured intuitively to guide flutists of all levels in establishing a singer’s range of tonal colour through the full range of the instrument. It is generally agreed that this book is a cornerstone of flute pedagogy, especially as it pertains to the French School of flute playing.

Marcel Moyse was an outspoken advocate on exploring ideas ideas for tonal shading from other instruments: the darker sound of the Oboe, or the bell-like projection of the French Horn, for example. Much in the same way, my Urban Flute Project draws inspiration from seeking out a variety of acoustic spaces in which to perform and enhance my understanding of the expressive possibilities of the flute.

In searching for a link to Massenet, I happened upon this description of Art Song , along with recent musical examples recorded here in Toronto at the Glenn Gould Theatre.

The darkened doorway pictured above is now bricked over, in preparation for a car showroom that is planned for the site.