Pan - Journal of the British Flute Society
Katherine Balch’s drip / spin, commissioned by Young Concert Artists and dedicated to flute player Anthony Trionfo, is a radiant six-minute work that revels in fragility, shimmer, and momentum. Written in 2017, it highlights Balch’s fascination with timbre and texture, reimagining the flute and piano as imaginative sound-shaping partners rather than traditional chamber counterparts.
From the opening, the music feels delicately alive. The flute slips between airy tones, tongue pizzicati, microtonal slides, and passages where the performer hums or sings through the instrument, producing buzzing multiphonics that are both playful and luminous. The piano - partially prepared by dampening its upper strings - contributes percussive pops and resonant colours that echo and refract the flute’s gestures.
Instead of exchanging dialogue, the instruments inhabit a shared ecosystem, their roles constantly overlapping and transforming.
The title’s duality - drip and spin - guides the piece’s unfolding. “Drip” appears in fragmentary phrases that evaporate into silence, while “spin” takes shape in sparkling, whirling textures that evoke perpetual motion. These states interweave seamlessly, suggesting condensation, rotation, and dissolution. Frequent markings dal niente and al niente reinforce Balch’s fascination with sounds that emerge from nothing and recede back into it, lending the music a sense of fleeting magic.
Though technically intricate, drip / spin privileges nuance over virtuosity. The performers must balance precision with sensitivity, shaping phrases where timbre, gesture, and silence carry equal expressive weight. Subtle shifts of tempo create a soundscape that feels fluid, unpredictable, and vibrantly alive.
The closing moments drift into breathy flute tones and faint piano resonances, leaving the impression of sound dissolving into air. In this way, drip / spin becomes more than a piece for flute and piano: it is a sonic meditation, playful and ephemeral, that invites listeners to hear sound itself as tactile, shimmering, and endlessly transformative
Sophie Hooper
From the Publisher
Commissioned by Young Concert Artists, Inc.
Premiered March 20, 2017 at the Kennedy Center’s Terrace Theater, Washington D.C.
Anthony trionfo, flute, and Albert Cano-Smit, piano
Technical requirements: G4-E4 of the piano should be dampened with poster tac, weatherseal, or a sock full of BB's to produce a detuned, percussive popping / tapping sound
n.b. the score has been revised and abridged since the premiere performance
In drip / spin, these two verbs are represented and enacted musically by the flute and piano. Both drip and spin conjure evocative images for me: while dripping connotes a solemn, delicate, not-quite-steady sound and feeling, spinning connotes playfulness, dizziness, and repetitive cycles. Dripping also suggests an action that is irreversible, while spinning might involve a return to where the cycle began. The flute and piano play with and ponder the myriad of gestures these words suggest.
This piece was revised and abridged following the premiere, please note that the recording is from the premiere performance.
(Note: drip / spin is the second movement of a two-movement work called Music About Glowworms. These movements can be performed separately, or together as a single work.
“The music for the piano could be described as almost hypnotic- a line that was repeated multiple times, with slight changes every time. It was barely noticeable until the original theme returned at the end…This piece was absolutely incredible.“ — Marisa Ewig blog
Performance duration (approx): 10'00
Item Details
Our Stock Code: 1496635Instrumentation
- Part 1: Flute
- Part 2: Piano
Category: Contemporary Flute and Piano Music
Publisher: Schott
Publisher's reference: ED 30360
Media Type: Paperback (48 pages [score])
Country of Origin: Germany
HS Code: 49040000
