Notes for Flutists: A Guide to the Repertoire by Kyle J. Dzapo (review)

The National Flute Association's website states its membership currently consists of "approximately 5,000 members from more than 50 countries" made up of "leading soloists, orchestral players, jazz and world music performers, teachers, adult amateurs, and students of all ages" (http://www.nfaonline.org/The-Organization/ [accessed 16 August 2017]). Therefore it would appear that Oxford University Press's new volume Notes for Flutists, with its short chapters devoted to thirty-five classic flute compositions, should have a ready-made audience of flute enthusiasts looking for insight into their favorite pieces. Compositions featured in the book are all part of the traditional Western art music flute canon—those pieces that undergraduate music majors make their way through over the course of four years of formal flute study. All of the works discussed are well-known and loved. Many are so entrenched in flute-community consciousness that they are recognized and often referred to simply by composer name: the Doppler, the Chaminade, the Griffes, the Dutilleux.

The volume is organized into chronological sections: "Baroque Monuments," "Enlightenment Gems," "Romantic Favorites," "Belle Époque Legacies of the Conservatoire," "Heralds of a New Era," "Twentieth-Century Concertos," and "Midcentury Solo and Chamber Masterpieces," with a final section devoted to "American Contributions." Dzapo does not specify her method for selecting pieces included for commentary, but her choices are spot-on. Some may quibble with specific works based on personal preference (why that particular Bach or Handel sonata and not another?), but the result is solid, with no glaring omissions. That said, my biggest criticism of this volume is that it does not include a single piece of music written by a living composer. The newest composition featured is Aaron Copland's Duo for Flute and Piano (1971). Certainly there are flute compositions that originated in the last forty-five years worthy of discussion—works that have found their way into the general flute consciousness and are regularly performed. While some may subscribe to the philosophy that it takes time to determine which works might concretely be considered "standards" (and which are not), there are compositions from the later part of the twentieth century and beyond that arguably meet appropriate criteria—pieces such as Ian Clarke's Zoom Tube, Katherine Hoover's Kokopelli, or Lowell Liebermann's Sonata op. 23. Inclusion of even one of these would have added a contemporary flavor to the larger volume. To be fair, Dzapo's preface does hint at the possibility of a future second volume, which perhaps cover these types of works.

Each chapter is a short program-notes-style overview of a single composition. Most follow a common organizational structure, one that should prove easily accessible to the undergraduate audience for which the volume seems to be intended. The notes begin with a general outline of the composer's biography followed by theoretical analysis and brief commentary on the background of the piece itself. The writing style is easy and colloquial. There are, however, some features of the narrative that fall short. Each entry is based on a limited number of secondary sources (the average is four to five, although some use more, and several use only one or two). Disappoint ingly, there is little original insight added by the author, outside of theoretical analysis. Quite a few primary source quotations are added throughout the book, but all are re-quoted from another secondary source. Many entries would have been more compelling had a larger proportion been devoted to historical, cultural, and social analysis of the work, or more detailed examination (and confirmation or correction) of some of the traditional legends associated with each piece (e.g. Cécile Chaminade's spurned lover and Claude Debussy's Syrinx program). Occasionally the reader stumbles upon statements that beg for further elaboration or clarification. For example, the entry...