WINGATE: METAPHYSICAL MONOLOGUE NO. 1
for Flute Solo

Date:
2020

Duration:
7'30"

Notes:
The Metaphysical Monologue for flute is built from a mellifluous seven-note set, heard in the opening, which is brought through a Stravinskian rotational array and then transposed to all twelve 'keys' or pitch levels. These groups in turn are used as episodes in rising half steps which complete a whole series of modulations to become a complete chromatic set, or a kind of concatenated and rarefied Well-Tempered ‘Flöte’. The repeated pitches throughout the work come from reading the rotational arrays vertically in addition to horizontally, and tend to add a fleeting sense of tonal centricity. This is also heightened by the tendency of the melodic line to dwell on that first pitch more than the others during the twelve chromatic episodes. The preponderance of seven-note groups in the piece is rhythmically mirrored by the presence of many septuplet figures throughout. And while using no extended techniques per se, the piece nevertheless expects great virtuosity from its flautist. After the twelfth episode the monologue quietly concludes with a very brief coda at the original pitch level, the last gesture being a group of seven low C‘s, to end where it began.