Flautknight, for flute choir

This piece was originally composed for flute quintet and was premiered at the Galway International Flute Festival in Weggis, Switzerland in 2019 with Sir James Galway in attendance.

When creating the piece, I wanted to write something that would pay homage to Sir James Galway as an iconic flute player and musician that brought the flute to the wider world through his recordings of popular classical music. As a flute player myself, I was introduced to his music as a child, and I looked to my first memories of hearing ‘the Man with the Golden Flute’ as inspiration. The result is a piece that combines eleven different musical motifs, each of which represents Sir James.

The title of the piece refers to Sir James as being a Knighted Flute Player, and came to me as I was suffering my older son playing a video game with a very similar name.

In this new version for flute choir, new parts have been added in order to fill out the ensemble and to offer alternatives when not all low flutes are available.

Flexible parts:

Flute 4 may be used to support the Alto flute 1 line, or in absence of this instrument.

Flute 5 may be used to support the Bass flute line, or in absence of this instrument.

Alto flute 2 may be used to support the Bass flute line, or in absence of this instrument.

Contrabass flute may be used if available, and is designed to support the Bass flute line.

(Katrina Penman)

Flautknight, for flute quintet – Youtube