Also this issue:

The Big Con
Why Philadelphia bands play the CMJ festival.
-Patrick Rapa

Tropical Impressions
Caetono Veloso tells the truth.
-A.D. Amorosi

suitespot
-Peter Burwasser on Classical

Back to Basics
Which in The Divine Comedy's case means less rock, more baroque.
-Sam Adams

Right On Time
-Sam Adams

Catherine Irwin
-Sam Adams

Kim Richey
-Sam Adams

Jack Johnson
-Chris Parker

November 7-13, 2002

music

Flute Awakening

by Peter Burwasser

At the ripe old age of 20, Mimi Stillman is already established as something of a “phenom” in the world of flute players, and so it was only fitting that she was asked to inaugurate the recital and lecture series for the fledgling Flute Society of Greater Philadelphia. Her program, all for solo flute, was appropriately catholic, spanning over two centuries, but with a decided tilt towards new music.

She opened the recital with a partita by Bach that, although rife with ferocious difficulties, is not a showpiece. Stillman immediately established herself as a serious artist of impressive poise and intelligence. She produced a great range of texture and dynamics, often with extraordinary panache and virtuosity, but always with careful shaping of large phrases and precise attention to note-to-note transitions. There’s an impressive range of tonality in her technique, from piercingly brilliant to an almost clarinet-like mellowness.

She continued with an evocative tone poem by Katherine Hoover, inspired by the culture of the Native Americans of the Southwest, and “Syrinx,” by Debussy. Both works were presented with fine dramatic sensibility by Stillman, although in the Debussy there was a lack of the last degree of requisite sensuality. If anything, it was touching to sense that there is still some innocence left in the flutist’s artistic personality.

Daniel Dorff wrote his “Nocturne-Caprice” expressly for this event, and an express composition it was, with about three weeks separating the commission and the premiere. It is an admirable addition to the repertoire, structured in a circular manner, as inspired by Chopin Nocturnes. Dorff encompasses a number of stylistic gestures, starting with a bluesy motif that morphs into whole-tone rows and flashy arpeggios, before settling back into a sweet repose. The elements are well integrated and are set out with calm pacing. Stillman rendered the music with utter confidence and palpable expressiveness.

It would be unfair not to expect Stillman to do a little showing off in front of an audience filled with fellow flutists, and her program did indeed include a pack of pyrotechnics. Paganini wrote his caprice in A minor for the violin, and few fiddlers could match the slithering, glistening sound of Stillman’s flute. A trio of brightly lit works by Latino composers Astor Piazzolla, Paquito D’Rivera and Zequinha de Abreu closed the program in rousing, foot-stomping style.