2021 Kujala International Piccolo Competition Program Notes

Thaw for solo piccolo

Composed by Marcos Balter and commissioned by the Chicago Flute Club for the 2021 Kujala International Piccolo Competition.

Nidi I for solo piccolo

Renaud François writes, “The piccoloist is transformed here into a fairy bird-catcher: it is fireworks falling in a shower of sparks.”

Written by Franco Donatoni in 1979 and premiered at the Venice Biennale, Nidi (or “nests”) are a collection of two virtuosic pieces written for solo piccolo and dedicated to Roberto Fabbriciani and Pierre-Yves Artaud.

Donatoni greatly admired Stockhausen, however, he states that he kept his distance: “My distance from Stockhausen, despite my admiration, is that he is always perfecting his ego and his music, while I want to destroy both the one and the other.” Curiously, Donatoni begins Nidi I with a motive using his own initials (F- Gb - D) and gradually the piece starts to unwind, becoming faster and faster until the very end, where this new world is destroyed almost as quickly as it was built.

Concerto in C Major, RV 443 (II. Largo and III. Allegro Molto)

Antonio Vivaldi was born in Venice in 1678 and at the age of 25, began working at the Ospredale della Pietà, one of four Ospedali in Venice. The Ospedale della Pietà was a convent, orphanage, and music school originally established as a home for orphaned girls in the 14th century. The Ospedali also provided students training to become professional musicians - this educational structure would later become the standard foundation for training in all European conservatories. These concerts became well known all over Europe and attracted audiences and patrons from around the world. 

While working at the Ospredale della Pietà, Vivaldi wrote three concerti for “flautino” or “little flute”, a high-pitched recorder that is similar to the modern piccolo. The two outer movements of this concerto are extremely virtuosic, with long passages of arpeggios and triplets, while the inner Largo movement is very expressive and allows the soloist an opportunity to add their own unique ornamentations.