Beat Furrer

melodie

melodie was commissioned for the ARD Music Competition as the compulsory piece for the semifinals in 2022. It is dedicated to the Austrian flautist Eva Furrer, with whom Beat Furrer works closely and who has been his advisor on flute techniques for decades. The intensive study of the instrument’s possibilities is also audible in "melodie". It is a virtuoso piece and demands the full spectrum of playing technique and expression from the flautist.

A variety of special playing techniques poses particular challenges: abstract sounds, changes in air flow, different vocal colorations, extreme registers, and multiphonics. The work is notated in two independent systems, one for articulation and one for fingerings. After a beginning of abstract sounds, the tone pitches become more and more defined. A section of fast, nervous figures is followed by a long, quarter-tone coloured melody, which gave the piece its name and which is heard about halfway through the approximately eight-minute piece.