Flight for Solo Flute

Pan - Journal of the British Flute Society

This review first appeared in Pan, the journal of the British Flute Society and is reproduced with permission. Join the BFS: membership starts from £20 a year.

In researching this article, I gave some young professional players two minutes to name any British pieces they knew. They all mentioned Flight. Rumour has it that at the first performance, the player did not turn the page over, leaving it incomplete, upsetting the composer.

Atarah Ben-Tovim

From the Publisher

Inspired by the sight of birds soaring and dipping over the peaks of the Swiss Alps, George Benjamin’s Flight for solo flute (1979) unfold over a clear and dramatic 8-minute span, alternating lyrical passages – characterised by keening glissandi – with spectacular virtuosic flourishes.

Performance duration (approx): 10'00

Item Details

Instrumentation

• Part 1: Flute