When I was in seventh or eighth grade, I heard Griffes' Poem for the first time at my studio teacher's end-of-year recital. I had been pretty pleased with myself having played the third movement of Mozart's Concerto in G, but when the eldest student (I think she was a senior in high school) began to play Poem I was transported to another plane of existence. I was so captivated by the music, and what must have been a pretty decent performance of the music - Brava, to whoever that senior was/is - that I still remember the feeling I had, mostly chills running up and down my spine, listening to Griffes' piece for the first time all these years later. I also have a distinct memory of demanding that my mother buy me the piece immediately the next day (I would have quadruple-underlined that if I could). Obviously, being so young, I had many experiences like this, and I continue to have them because there is so much unknown out there for me. But Griffes' Poem holds a special place in my heart as one of the first pieces I "discovered" and fell head over heels for. Moral of this story, going to recitals and concerts (you know, the live ones with real people in front of you) is important and may change your life. There is a reason that colleges have "recital attendance" requirements that factor into your grade. Anyway, if you somehow have never heard this piece, allow me:
While receiving my Master's, I had the opportunity to take part in the search for a new flute professor because the previous flute professor was retiring. It was a very interesting experience that I feel fortunate to have had, but to the point! Early one morning I was sitting in the Music Office and one of the candidates happened to be sitting in there as well. We started talking and she was asking me about my favorite flutists to listen to and what pieces I have performed. Apparently, she found both of my lists lacking because she instructed me to pull out some paper and take down some names of professional flutists and flute pieces she insisted I must listen too. There were a lot of names and pieces on that list. However, I went home and did as she said. A year or so later, I was performing one of the pieces from her list on my Master's Recital: Lukas Foss' Renaissance Concerto. Not surprisingly, this candidate was offered the position, and accepted.
So, outside of being at a concert or asking someone for recommendations to broaden your horizons, how can you find new music? Well, I start off with the unbeatable combination of Flute Worlds music catalog and listening to recordings via Youtube, Pandora, Naxos, etc. If you have some sort of idea as to what you are looking for, what instruments are involved, or what "grade level"/level of difficulty you want, then Flute World is a great resource since they have already organized a great deal of flute literature into its proper categories in alphabetical order by composer! I have often browsed their lists taking note of any interesting prospects - it could be that the composer or title or the opening page of the score (if provided) catches your eye.
This is how I found another piece I performed on my Master's Recital. In the second year of my master's I took a History of Opera class. This is relevant because one of the operas studied in the class was Carl Maria von Weber's Der Freischütz. While trolling for new music on Flute World, I saw that Paul Taffanel had composed a Fantaisie sur le Freischütz. Well, I loved the music in the opera so I had to find a recording and check it out.
The recording I found was by Emmanuel Pahud - so it was, of course, amazing. But it wasn't just the great performance, I really liked the use of the opera music, the variations, and the overall construction (and drama) of the piece.
Similarly, I found a Damase Trio by browsing Flute World for pieces for two flutes and piano. I am part of a trio and we had just given a recital and were in need of new music to begin working on. In the case of Damase, a composer I had never heard of, I looked at the provided opening page of the score and went on youtube for a recording. Long story short, I loved it, ordered it, and it will be performed in the next month.
Finally, the most adventurous search for music! I was listening to a Pahud CD on Naxos and was really captivated by a Telemann Concerto. I looked everywhere I could think of for the piece, including but not limited to Flute World, J.W. Pepper, and IMSLP. Then I came upon an article that suggested that the concerto might have originally been composed for oboe. Ah. So then I went to Trev-Co and searched their catalog of music. Alas, they did not seem to have it either. I emailed them asking for help and for suggestions on where to find this music because Pahud must have found it somewhere. The nice Trev-Co worker told me they would look into it and not but a few days later I received an email saying that they had found the concerto!....in Germany. They would be willing to order a copy for me if I were interested. Yes! I am interested!
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I guess the moral of this story is to always be willing to ask for help - this is one of my favorite baroque concertos and it has some pretty interesting backstory involving the one and only J.S. Bach stealing melodic content from this Telemann Concerto in G (there is more than one...) for his own Concerto in G. Oh my...
Stay thirsty for new music, my friends! And always be on the look out - you never know what you will stumble upon.
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