Winter Solstice

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Frederico Monpou

Happy Winter Solstice from Urban Flute Project!

The nights have been getting so long and lingering, the darkness so palpable – like a veil of silence thrown over the land – you could almost reach out and touch them.

When darkness prevails, I love the impenetrable, mystical feeling that goes along with this time of year. So you can well understand that I have mixed feelings when December 21st rolls around to begin the slow swing back in daylight’s favour!

Sure, it’s exciting to mark the return of Light and Life, but somehow, for me at least, it feels a bit like saying good-bye to a long lost and rather ireverential friend who you’ve just started hanging out with again.

Recently I received an impromptu invite for dinner at a friend’s place where a few of us get together to rehearse once or twice a week, to read through rep and enjoy a meal together. It’s a relaxed atmosphere in which to make music, enjoy a few laughs, as well as an ideal spot to throw the occasional informal apartment recital, Schubertian style!

This is the view from their balcony that looks out over Rosedale Valley, with the Bayview Extension in the foreground.

Even though in this instance this was a simple dinner invitation, I decided to bring along my flute just in case. I learned years ago that Murphy’s Law applies big time to these kinds of decisions: if you don’t bring your flute – or, say, your camera – you will wish you did, and, if you do, sure, it can be a little burdensome, but at least then you have the option.

And at least I don’t play the harp or tuba!

In this case  I was so glad I was so glad to have tucked along my flute, and to be able to read over Stephen’s shoulder – I had never heard such wonderful music.

After dinner there was some sheet music on the piano that had caught my eye: the lesser-known Frederico Monpou, and we discovered that these improvisational miniatures for solo piano work just fine with the flute covering the melodic line of the piano’s right hand.

Every once in a while, just when you think you’ve heard it all, there is that unexpected discovery, that distinctive shock – almost akin to a planetary shift – and what I have come to recognize as a kind of musical epiphany.

This writing/music has an impressionistic, yet distinctive style – think Debussy, with a little Satie rolled in – yet is so fresh and immediate, even modern sounding! In this particular piece, the delicate, reverential tenderness of the simple flute line contrasted by the spare chords of the piano seem to perfectly capture the spirit and mystery of the Winter Solstice season.

* The next apartment recital for Trio Erratica & Friends is set for January 31st. Monpou surely will be featured in the program – let me know if you wish to attend, and even bring a friend or two along, but the deal is that it’s potluck if you want to get in!

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