Concerto V for Flute, String Orchestra and Basso continuo Op. 10/5, RV 434 This famous Italian Baroque composer has been recognized and appreciated for the amount of works he produced and the unique characteristic style he infused into his music. In this particular genre he is most often known for the group of violin concerti collectively called “The Seasons.” In the roughly 300 solo concertos he wrote, of which about 230 are for violin, he became the first composer to commit an entire published opus to flute concerti. This concerto is part of that collection published around 1728, and unfortunately for us, this concerto was not granted a nickname unlike the first three of this collection of six and many others …show more content…
He was appointed professor of choral literature and director of the choir at the Tbilisi Conservatory shortly after he graduated. He also managed to become a member of the Presidium of the International Music Council of UNESCO and served as Minister of Culture of Georgia for thirty years, while become a laureate of the highest award in the USSR, the Lenin Prize in 1982. Through this, his music covered many genres, but was primarily focused on writing vocal music that had an emphasize on regional folk material. From this background emerges the Sonata for Flute and …show more content…
After studying at the South African College of Music in Cape Town, he was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship and moved to Harvard for musicology and composition. During his time in the United States, he taught music theory and composition at Bard College and Peabody Conservatory, and studied with Aaron Copland at Tanglewood. He returned to South Africa to teach music at the University of Pretoria, and by this time had sharpened his own personal style. This piece was written in 1999, by which has already retired from his teaching post but continued to work part-time at the University. The basis of the piece is about a legend that he claims to have “concocted.” The legend states that the soul of a person takes the shape of a bird and that when they die their soul becomes a songbird. As would be expected in a piece that attempts to portray a bird, the composer has consciously placed birdcalls or bird-like passages in the work as a whole, especially in this movement. The dialogue between the flute and piano features these short and sometimes hurried figurations that are meant to mimic a bird. Occasionally, there are a few phrases that present some longer musical ideas, but the majority is made of this back-and-fourth dialogue between the players. The texture is also very simple and thin, with the cello