Into the Flames (Alto Flute)

Into the Flames is inspired by the life and work of Jean Sibelius (1865-1957). One of the great symphonists of all time, the Finnish composer spent approximately twenty years working on what would have become his Eighth Symphony. After the enormous success of his previous seven symphonies and numerous tone poems, it is Sibelius’s strife for perfection and an inability to never except the production of second rate work which caused him to destroy a symphony that had occupied his thoughts for some twenty years. This is a personal response to Sibelius, imagining the agony, the pain and yet ultimately relief as the score of the incomplete Eighth Symphony was placed Into the Flames.

Into the Flames was written for the flautist Carla Rees who plays a quarter tone Kingma system alto flute, an instrument with which she is able to break new ground in contemporary techniques and repertoire.

Mark David Boden, 2010